Stormy with Patches of Sky
by DancingRaindrops
Summary: Chad. Sonny. Sonny. Chad. You know they're perfect for each other. But do you remember all the reasons why? Here are all the moments that created Channy, relived episode by episode through Sonny's POV. Please read and review.
1. SuperStar

A/N: Okay, so I know I promised a sequel to **Guess Who's NOT Coming to Guest Star**. And I _have _started it. But this just begged to be written. Demi-Fan-Channy suggested it to me, and I couldn't get it out of my head. So here it is, the first installment of **Stormy with Patches of Sky**. The title refers to the Sonny: So Far promo, which talks about Chad and Sonny's relationship. Each chapter will have a line from a song, which refers to one part or another of the chapter. It's not based on the line or the song, though, so don't be misled! This is just the beginning, so tell me how it is! The first paragraph or so is really random, it's kind of an introduction. Ignore it if it's stupid, and please read the rest of it. :)

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

Chad Dylan Cooper. Three names. One person. And what a person.

Wow, that sounded like a dramatic introduction to a movie! But that's not what this is. This is a record of my interactions with the three-named star, as told by me. And who am I, you ask? Why, I am… *cue the drum roll and deep voice* Sonny Munroe! And _this _is my story. Well, Chad's story too. But mostly mine.

_"I'm no one special, just another wide-eyed girl who's desperately in love with you." -Taylor Swift, SuperStar_

The first time I met Chad Dylan Cooper, I was starstruck. After all, he was the star of the number one tween drama in America, and I, like every other girl that I knew, watched the show and fell in love with Mackenzie. And, by extension, Chad Dylan Cooper. My room back home in Wisconsin was plastered with his pictures, and I had fantasized more than once about meeting him. Okay, maybe more than just meeting him. Kissing him. Marrying him. Being called Mrs. Chad Dylan Cooper. The whole celebrity crush thing that every teenage girl experiences one time or another. But unlike every other teenage girl, I got the chance to meet him. And not just meet him - to work in the same studio as him, to see him every day. So when I first met Chad Dylan Cooper in the commissary, I couldn't speak.

***

"Oh my gosh. I know you." _That_ was an understatement. "You're - you're - " I stuttered out, unable to finish. I couldn't believe that I was actually meeting him!

"Him?" He completed for me, gesturing to his poster. I nodded fervently as he cocked his head and gazed off into the distance with his trademark look. "Chad Dylan Cooper." As if I didn't know!

"You're Mackenzie on _Mackenzie Falls_!" I finally managed to burst out.

"And apparently you're Madge."

"Yes! No! No, Madge is my waitress character. And all this belongs to Madge too. I'm Sonny," I held out my hand with a grin. This was a dream come true.

"Sonny. That's a nice name," he said with a smile before writing something down. Chad Dylan Cooper had complimented me! Obviously, the City of Angels had been named correctly, because I was in heaven.

"Oh, thank you! You know, when I was younger, I didn't really like it, but now it kinda suits me. I mean, I have this one friend, and her name – " Chad handed me something.

"Here you go," he said, smiling and looking deep into my eyes. I gazed back, enthralled. "See you later."

"Kay..." I looked at what he had given me. It was his autograph! "Sonny. Thanks for the yogurt. Chad Dylan Cooper," I read aloud, confused. "Hey, I didn't give you any..." I glanced up and saw that the yogurt tray I had prepared was gone. I gasped. "Chad Dylan Cooper just stole my yogurt!" I yelled for everyone to hear. Then the full impact of what had just happened hit me. "Oh my gosh! Chad Dylan Cooper just stole my yogurt!" I squealed in delight to a girl walking by.

***

He had looked at me. He had _smiled _at me. He knew my name. Well, he knew it after I told it to him. But still, that was miles ahead of any girl I knew back home who swooned over Mackenzie. He might have stolen my yogurt while I stared in wonder at him, but I honestly didn't care. I was still walking on air from meeting Chad when I found out about the feud between the two shows.

At first I didn't believe it. It seemed like a nightmare, that I would be near Chad all day long and not able to talk to him. That would be crushing my irrational and juvenile hopes and dreams as far as boys were concerned. So I tried to make our casts friends, by means of a peace picnic. And it was a disaster. The table crashed, we were glued to our chairs, I was splattered with egg salad, and Grady's butt was exposed. And worst of all, Chad had planned the whole thing.

When Tawni showed the egg salad video to me, I cringed. Not only was it humiliating to have the whole world see it, but I knew that only one person could have given the clip to Tween Weekly – Chad Dylan Cooper. And just like that, the fantasies that had been growing more detailed and romantic in my head ever since I met him in the commissary were crushed. He didn't like me. Apparently, he _dis_liked me. In my anger, I stormed over to the set of Mackenzie Falls to give him what he deserved.

***

"What's the matter with you?!" I interrupted the scene they were filming, which admittedly looked quite interesting.

"What's the matter with me? What's the matter with – those words didn't come out of your mouth," he said, still talking to Portlyn. Someone yelled "cut," and Chad turned to look at me. He scoffed. "We're sort of in the middle of a shoot here."

"And now you're sort of taking a break," I retorted. "Portlyn, you got great legs, let's see how they move." She stalked off with an indignant look on her face.

"Okay, well - well stay sad, sweetie!" Chad called after her. Figures, he was trying to lead her on as well. "_What_ is your problem?" He turned on me now.

"What's _my_ problem? My problem is that everything my friends – and Tawni – told me about you guys was true. You _Mackenzie Falls _people are jerks. And you're like the head jerk. You're like the - like the mayor of Jerksville. The head ambassador of Jerkoslovakia." Okay, maybe that was taking it too far, but I was upset.

"You saw the egg salad video," Chad said with a chuckle, already knowing the cause of my anger. "Yeah. I also direct." He smirked to himself, and it drove me crazy. Not only did it show his conceit, but it also revealed his gorgeous dimples. Stupid dimples.

"We were trying to make peace," I said, trying to get the conversation and my head back on track.

"Please. You were trying to trap us," he corrected.

"Trap you? You've obviously been watching your show too much. You know, not everything is cutthroat and gossipy. Sometimes people do things just to be nice." I felt proud of myself. I had taught Chad Dylan Cooper a lesson, and I also managed to put down his show. And he was listening. His eyes were on mine the whole time I was speaking, and he smiled sincerely when I was done.

"Do they, Sonny? Do they really? Look, it was sweet of you to put that picnic together. Way sweet." Chad drew closer and took my hand. Oh my gosh. He really had listened, and now he was sorry! It wasn't his fault; after all, if you work in drama for awhile, surely you'll start to think it's real life. He caressed my hand, and I felt myself go weak in the knees. "But the bad blood between our two shows has run too deep for too long to be healed by a bowl of egg salad, and even the best of intentions. Just because you wish for something doesn't make it so." He smiled as he spoke, and I trembled a little. His eyes were so intoxicating, I wanted to gaze into them forever.

"Oh, Chad Dylan – "

"Shh." He put a finger to my lips, and I broke off immediately. "The time for talking is over. I must go. So run – run back to your show, and put your sweet little dreams of peace to bed." He held my hand until he was too far to reach it. I stared after him longingly before realizing that he had gotten away and promised me nothing.

"What just happened?"

***

After talking to my cast, we decided to have a game of musical chairs. If we won, we would get our parking space, a new toilet paper holder to replace _Mackenzie Falls_'s Tween Choice Award, and Chad would have to say something nice about _So Random!_. But if we lost, we would have to go on our show and tell the world that _Mackenzie Falls_ was better. The stakes were high, and I knew that we just _had_ to win. Jerks like Chad Dylan Cooper – jerks who pretended to be nice and caring and wonderful but turned out to be manipulative and arrogant – needed to be shown a lesson. And beating him at musical chairs would be the first part of that lesson; accepting defeat.

It came down to the two of us at the end, with both of our casts watching anxiously.

***

"Looks like it's just you, me, and one more thing you're not gonna get!" Chad crowed as the music played and we circled the chair.

"You know, you're acting pretty confident for someone who's gonna lose!" I boasted back.

"Hahahaha, at least I can act," he bragged.

"Can you, Chad? Can you really?" I mocked. I could hear Nico, Grady, and Tawni laughing in the background before cheering.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" I could tell that the music was going to stop any second now. What if I _didn't_ get it? No, no, I had to get it! An idea struck me suddenly – I would go the _Mackenzie Falls_ way. I would trick him.

"Ow!" I cried before tumbling to the ground, clutching my ankle. Just as I had predicted, the music ceased playing.

"NO!" my cast moaned.

"It's my ankle, it really hurts, I think something snapped!" I feigned my injury.

"Oh, man. That looks really serious. We'd better get you to a doctor. Just – take my hand," Chad offered. I looked up at him, surprised by his kindness. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Maybe…

I yanked on Chad's hand, pulling him down to the ground with me. Kind or not, he still needed to be punished for before. I crossed my legs and did Chad's peace sign thing as I sat in the chair. "Peace out, suckas!"

"You tricked me!" he exclaimed from the floor.

"No. I was acting!" I amended, pretending to be a stuck-up person from the Falls.

"Not bad. Perhaps there's a spot for you on _Mackenzie Falls_. After Portlyn disappears in a mysterious ballooning accident." Portlyn walked out of the room with a sob as I stared at Chad. Did he mean it? A spot on _Mackenzie Falls_? I looked at my castmates' expressions of worry, and I knew what my answer was.

"Thanks, but my home is right here in Chuckle City, on a show called _So Random!_." Was it just me, or was there a tinge of disappointment on his face? "So I don't think I'll be going anywhere, Chad Dylan Cooper," I finished. His expression was surprised and unwillingly impressed.

***

Ha. That will teach him to mess with me. Maybe I was infatuated with him back in Wisconsin, and maybe he had enchanted me the first few times we had met, but that didn't mean anything. The days of my crushing on Chad Dylan Cooper were over. After all, I wasn't some obsessed fangirl from Wisconsin that no one knew anymore. I was Sonny Munroe from _So Random!_, and there was no way that Chad would steal my heart like all those other girls.

A/N: Hm. So I'm not sure what I think. But please share what _you_ think! Review, review :D


	2. I'll Be There For You

A/N: You guys are awesome. :) Thanks to channylover101, Fluffness, Purple13512, call me what you want, iNerdyQueen, TeddyLuver, and LivinTheDream17 for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter. :D

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"I'll be there for you...when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you...like I've been there before. I'll be there for you...cuz you're there for me too." - The Rembrandts_

I groaned in disgust at the commissary's daily special. One thing that I had not expected in Hollywood was the gross food, if it could even be deemed food. Chad walked up to get his _food_ as well, and I greeted him in a short tone.

"And speaking of shiny coats...Chad." Ha. That showed him, alright.

"Sonny," he retorted in the same manner. "Cloudy, Rainy," he acknowledged Nico and Grady. I suppose he thought that he was being funny.

"We have names," Nico informed Chad, obviously not finding the joke humorous.

"Yeah, but remembering them would take effort and interest and...excuse me," finished Chad, giving up on the conversation. Wait, but he remembered_ my _ name. Does that mean he thinks I'm worthy of interest? Oh, how pitiful. I'm getting excited because someone simply remembered my name. One benefit of being stuck-up like Chad is that people have low expectations for your manners, so when you do show a little courtesy, it seems like a huge deal. But it's not. Chad took advantage of my musings by cutting in front of me.

"Hey, you can't just cut in front of us like that!" I admonished him.

"Yeah, they also said I couldn't be this handsome, and yet," he gestured to his face. "Here I am." Well, I have to admit, it is kinda true. Oh, why does he have to have that perfect smile and those sparkly eyes? I watched in disbelief as Chad used that charming grin of his to get a steak. His beautiful castmate Portlyn soon followed with a lobster in tow. Life just isn't fair sometimes. Good looks really do make a difference. Just ask the cast of _Mackenzie Falls_. But the rest of us can make do, which is what prompted me to pull out my cell phone and order pizza.

Fifteen minutes later, I watched, disappointed, as my castmates got up and left me alone in the commissary. They had completely rejected my sketch idea without even thinking twice about it. I had worked on it for ages, formulating the main idea, the details, the powers, the costumes, the pictures...and they didn't care in the least. Needless to say, I was feeling a bit down. But when I saw Chad come over to see what was the matter, I couldn't help but feel a bit happier. He had noticed my change in mood and come to restore my previously high spirits. That meant he cared, right? At least a little.

"So. Pooperang. Really?" he said, referring to one of "Robo-Baby's" tools. So much for making me feel better. He sounded like he was mocking me.

"Yeah. Really," was my curt response.

"Hey, I thought it was funny. I almost choked on my bananas foster." Chad said. I guess maybe I'm not as good at interpreting tones as I thought. He thought it was funny? Well, I never would have seen that coming.

"Well, it's nice to know someone laughed," I sighed. Especially someone who normally doesn't think anything is funny, I added inside my head. That had to count for something, didn't it? Then his second statement hit me. "Wait, we have bananas foster?"

"They do, you don't," Brenda, the evil lunch lady, informed me. Figures.

"You know, Sonny, it didn't seem like your friends were very supportive." Chad actually sounded concerned. "It was almost like they were dissing you."

"No," I tried to pretend everything was alright. "Them mocking me and making fun of my idea is just their way of..." I couldn't really get around the fact that they meant what they had said. "Mocking me and making fun of my idea," I finished. What was so bad about my idea anyways?

"Yeah, you do things differently over at _So Random!._ I mean, at the Falls, when one of us cries, we all cry. I just assumed that when one of you laughs, you all laugh." Well, that made sense. All for one and one for all, right? But apparently the rest of my cast didn't seem to agree.

"Yeah, well I guess they could have been a little more supportive," I conceded. Who would have thought that Chad, of all people, would be the one who comforted me and was there for me when I needed it?

"Sounds like someone needs a shoulder to laugh on," was Chad's reponse. I couldn't help but feel a little excited. What he said could only mean one thing, right?

"Are you offering me your shoulder, Chad?" I asked with a smile. He grinned as he stood up and put his arm around my shoulders. I'm mildly ashamed to admit that I trembled just slightly as he did so.

"I'm offering you all our shoulders," he gestured towards the _Mackenzie Falls_ table in all its glory, and I couldn't help but like how it looked.

"They are nice shoulders," I said, starting to give in. Chad was an extremely persuasive person.

"Look, know we have this stupid rivalry between our two shows, but it doesn't _have_ to be that way, right?" He wanted to just ignore the feud? Pretend it never existed?

"I guess," I replied, grinning. It sounded good to me, especially considering I could still feel his arm around me.

"What are you doing right now? Take a break from _So Random!_ and come hang out at the Falls," he coaxed me. "_Mackenzie Falls_. A quaint little town nestled at the corner of life and dreams." I could almost see it before my eyes as he spoke. Who cared about my cast? I was going to _Mackenzie Falls_.

"So...stage two?" I confirmed.

"Yeah, stage two," Chad smiled at me. And that pretty much sealed my fate.

When I walked into the _Mackenzie Falls_ lounge, I was completely taken aback by the luxuries they had. A chocolate fountain, loganberry smoothies, a masseuse, the list went on and on. I was just in the process of getting a pedicure when the cast of _So Random!_ walked in. They were appalled that I was "cavorting with the enemy," and I was subsequently banned from the prop house. But I didn't care. I walked out with my head held high. After all, Chad Dylan Cooper was on my side.

The next day, I sat at the _Mackenzie Falls_ table and dined on lobster instead of the usual ick. I made the lobster talk as I ate it, but no one seemed to get it, Portlyn especially. I started wondering if I really had made the right choice, especially seeing as my castmates were laughing their heads off over at their table. Then Chad stood up and pulled out my chair for me to get up. His chivalry reminded me that other people cared about me now, and I strutted out of the commissary, wearing my _Mackenzie Falls_ uniform proudly. After a brief contest of forced laughter with the So Random! table, I went to stage two. I had a few issues, especially with the meditation room and the gong there. Somehow, it didn't seem like I fit into the Falls as much as I had the day before. When Chad and Portlyn went to film a scene, I felt like it was portraying my life.

"I know I've taken you from your friends - your world - everything you've ever known. But trust me, you'll be happier here," Mackenzie said. "You do trust me, don't you?"

Caught up in the scene and my thoughts, I responded. "No, I'm not sure that I do." After all, Chad hadn't proven himself to be the most trustworthy person.

"Of course you trust me!" Chad exclaimed before realizing that it wasn't Portlyn who had spoken. "Wait, who is talking while I'm acting?" I pretended to look around for the offender, but inwardly I couldn't help but wonder whether or not I had made the right choice.

As I pondered this, Tawni, Nico, Grady, and Zora barged onto the set, dressed in the outfits that I had designed for the sketch they had originally shot down.

"We're here to apologize and ask you to come back," Grady explained after some conversation.

"Maybe she doesn't want to come back to you losers," Portlyn smirked.

"Correction! Loser Force Four!" They all assumed their superhero poses, and I felt the grin on my face grow even wider. They liked my idea and they wanted me back!

"Wow. I've never met a group of losers so proud to be called losers," Chad smiled.

"Well, I'm proud to call myself a loser too," I said, walking over to join my cast. "So I guess that makes us Loser Force Five!"

"Wait, you guys are making up?" asked Chad with a hint of worry, almost as if he (gasp!) cared.

"Yes, we are," I replied, looking at my cast with a smile.

"But that ruins Chad's plan," Portlyn told us.

"What plan?" came out of my mouth immediately.

"I don't have a plan," Chad denied almost as quickly, which obviously meant that he had one.

"Sure you do! Keep you fighting with each other so _Mackenzie Falls_ can stay number one!" Portlyn stuck out her tongue at us.

"Please, don't talk without a script!" Chad scolded her. And that could only mean that what she had said was true. Chad had tried to use me. He never cared about me. Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't care about anyone but himself.

"So you were just pretending to be my friend," I stated, hoping somewhat that he would deny it.

"Well, yeah!" So much for that. "I saw an opportunity and I knocked." That was it? My sadness was just "an opportunity" to him? I felt so stupid.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm knocking back, and I'm sticking with my_ real_ friends," I told him defiantly. There was no way he was ever going to fool me again with his sweet words and dimples. I had to get back at him. So I instructed my castmates to take everything they could, and we ran off with their food and smoothies. Oh, yes, revenge is sweet. Not to mention chocolaty.

A/N: So what did you think? Review, review! :)


	3. Crush

A/N: Thank you for your reviews! Shoutouts to Hiilani, Joker236, channylover101, iTwilightLover98, and Love at First Fight. I absolutely love this episode, so I had a great time writing this chapter! I hope you like it too. :)

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"The possibility that you could ever feel the same way about me is just too much, just too much." -David Archuleta_

As I walked back from rehearsal for "So You Think You Can PP Dance?", I met Josh with his mail cart. "Oh, hi, Josh," I greeted him.

"Hey, Sonny, what's up?" he responded. As he went past me, the person following him became visible. Unfortunately.

"Hey," he said casually, as though he strolled around _So Random!_ everyday.

"Chad?" I asked in disbelief. "What are you doing and why are you doing it over here at _So Random!_?" I wondered if, since I hadn't decided to join _him_ at the Falls, he had decided to join _me_ on_ my _set. But I should have realized that was a stupid idea. He had only wanted me on his set to cause problems for me and my cast, it didn't have anything to do with my company.

"Well, I'm not _just_ the star of _Mackenzie Falls_, America's number one tween drama." Chad paused to let his boasting sink in. "I also got a part in a movie."

"Hm. I still don't know why you're here," I retorted. I wanted him gone, movie or no movie. The set of So Random! was supposed to be my safe haven, where Chad would never turn up.

"I play a mail delivery guy. He works at a high-powered law firm. It's a small but crucial role. That's why I'm following my good buddy Jeff around." Jeff? He seriously didn't even know the name of the person he was following? Now that's what I call rude.

"It's Josh," I informed him.

"Who's Josh?" Wow. He couldn't figure that out? Who else was with us that could be Josh?

"That would be me," Josh pointed at himself, somewhat embarrassed. Poor guy.

"Well, good luck!" I said. He was gonna need it.

"Thank you," replied Chad, automatically assuming I was talking to him, of course.

"I was talking to Josh," I smirked and walked away, leaving Chad with an adorably confused expression on his face.

It turned out later on that I was the one who needed luck. Having my confidence lowered by a lack of fan letters, I wrote one to myself. The plan totally backfired, and I ended up having to dash around set disguised as "Eric," my supposed fan. As I rushed to my dressing room, I crashed into Chad, who was apparently being instructed by Josh how to stamp mail.

"Sorry!" I apologized, forgetting to deepen my voice. Chad stared at me, and I froze. He couldn't recognize me. No one had recognized me - not Tawni, not Nico, not Grady, not Marshall. Why would Chad?

"Do I know you?" he asked quizzically, still trying to identify me. Shoot. He DID know me.

"...Nobody knows me. No one will _ever_ know me!" I responded in panic before running away.

"Weird beard," I heard Josh comment as I fled. And yet Chad had noticed that I looked familiar, even through the beard. How could Chad, of all people, recognize me? Especially when no one else had. Was he the only one who had really looked at Eric? No, Tawni had gotten really close - a bit _too_ close, actually. So that wasn't it. But maybe he looked at me - _really_ looked at me - when I was just Sonny, and so he recognized my features. No, no, that was a stupid idea. There was no way that Chad Dylan Cooper would actually _look_ at me, Sonny Munroe. There was no way he looked at me the way I looked at him, the way I studied him when no one was watching, the way I had memorized every detail of his face. There must be some other explanation.

After Tawni discovered that Eric didn't exist, she tried to ensure that the rest of the world would know too. Soon, I was faced with the prospect of having Eric on _So Random!,_ on live television, with Sonny standing next to him. Which would be impossible considering that I was both Sonny and Eric. When the sketch was over and we were given two more minutes before the close of the show, when Eric was supposed to appear, I went backstage and pulled out the box containing my disguise. Chad appeared, much to my surprise, and I tried to hide the disguise discreetly.

"I knew I recognized you," Chad smirked. "You're Weird Beard." Evidently my attempts were in vain. But that brought up my question from before - how could Chad recognize me when everyone else failed to? "...Why are you Weird Beard?" he asked me.

"Why do you care?" I shot back, wondering what his answer would be.

"...I don't know, let's give it a shot," was his reply. Did that mean he _did _care? I took a deep breath, knowing that what I said next would sound stupid to him.

"Well, I sent myself a fan letter, pretended to be my own fan, and now I get to go out on stage and meet the fan I'm pretending to be!" I said with fake enthusiasm, waiting for a witty insult to be hurled at me.

"Why would you write yourself a fan letter?" That certainly wasn't the response I was expecting. He sounded…almost like he cared.

"Because I lost faith in myself," I sighed. So very, very stupid. I should have known that it would turn out to be a disaster.

"Oh. Classic case of actor insecurity. You start doubting your abilities, wondering whether you were good enough and whether you deserve to be on TV," Chad elaborated. I nodded as he spoke, identifying with his words. I couldn't believe that Chad was actually being nice and understanding about the whole thing.

"So you've been through this?" I knew that if Chad Dylan Cooper had gone through the low self-esteem period, _everyone_ must have, which would make me feel a whole lot better.

"No," was his immediate answer. He chuckled, adding insult to injury. "No, no, but I made you _think _I had, which is why_ I'll_ never go through it." As the words came out of his mouth, I fought the desire to hit him. He was so...insensitive!

"You are unbelievable!" I exploded. "I knew it. You don't care," I said bitterly. I should have known that the idea of Chad sympathizing with me was too good to be true. "I thought we were having a real moment here," I added quietly, almost to myself. Chad's eyes softened, and he seemed almost apologetic. Almost.

"Now, please welcome back to the stage the cast of _So Random_!" Marshall announced onstage. I let out a huge breath that I didn't even know I had been holding.

"Well, that's my cue."

"So what are you gonna do?" Chad asked, a hint of concern in his tone. But that didn't make up for his sympathetic pretense a few moments ago.

"You don't care, remember? But I do. Now excuse me while I go out there and embarrass myself," I gave him a small, fake smile before facing the audience.

I took the microphone from Marshall to explain about Eric, mentally preparing myself for humiliation. "Eric...is..."

"Your number one fan!" Someone dressed up as Eric stepped out from behind the curtain. I knew immediately that it was Chad - perhaps in the same way that he had known that it was me earlier? Tawni stuttered in disbelief, and I couldn't help but stand there and grin.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked Chad out of the corner of my mouth.

"I'm not helping you," he denied quickly. "I just - wanted to try on the weird...beard." He was hesitant as he spoke, and I knew that he was lying, if only to save face.

"Sounds like somebody cares," I told him, feeling a thrill run through me as I said it. The CDC fangirl still exists, buried deep inside of me.

"Somebody...wanted to try on the weird beard," Chad repeated, but his voice shook slightly.

"Cares," I taunted, hoping to get him to admit it, just so I could hear it aloud.

"Beards." He was determined too.

"Cares."

"Beards."

"Cares."

"Beards."

"Beards," I switched, trying to catch him.

"Cares," he said automatically before realizing what he had said.

"Gotcha!" I clapped my hands excitedly and grinned widely in response as Chad hung his head in defeat. _Chad Dylan Cooper cares. Chad Dylan Cooper cares. Chad Dylan Cooper cares_, I chanted over and over in my head. He cared. And he cared about_ me_. There was no better feeling in the world.

A/N: Awwww! :D Please review. You're obligated if you have favorited and/or alerted! :P


	4. Get the Party Started

A/N: Okay, double the update! Hopefully that means double the reviews! Hint, hint. :D This chapter's short, because there weren't very many moments in this episode, unfortunately. I pretty much lost inspiration for the line from a song, too. So I decided to post this chapter while you were all still happy about the last chapter, so you wouldn't be disappointed later. :) Hope you like it!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"I'm coming up, so you better get this party started." -P!nk_

My plan for the weekend had been to do fun things with my best friend Lucy, just like we had done them back ay Wisconsin. But things didn't go according to plan. Lucy ended up preferring Tawni's company over mine, and I was the third wheel all day. Feeling down, I had retreated to the prop house for some moping when Chad walked in.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to you? Are you okay?" His worry was evident in his voice. Wow. He was caring about someone other than himself again!

"Not really," I shrugged, but I was cut off as I spoke.

"Oh, baby!" Chad rushed over to his cardboard cutout, which had mysteriously sprouted a beard. Ugh. Figures that he would care more about that than me. So much for caring about someone else. "Who did this to you? Speak to me!" Wow, now he was reduced to talking to inanimate objects.

"Gra-dy and Ni-co," answered the cutout, which was mildly disturbing.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm checking in on all of my cutouts." He turned to the one currently sporting a beard that Lincoln would have been proud of. "_Clearly _for good reason." He couldn't stand the thought of even a cutout of him looking slightly less than perfect. Can you say vain? "So, I guess I'll be seeing you at my party tonight," he smiled at me. Chad actually sounded...a bit happy about that.

"Yeah, as much as I'd like to bask in the glory of your Chadness, I can't make it." He looked stricken, like he had just found out the sky was green, or that the world didn't revolve around him. Actually, that last one was probably right on target.

"Y-you were the no? You were the one person I invited who's not coming?" Chad's voice seemed to hitch up a bit at the end, almost as if he was...sad. To think that I wasn't coming? Oh, that's ridiculous.

"Well, you see, my best friend is in town, and - "

"So? Bring her to the party!" He said before adding quickly, "You know, this just means two gifts." Of course. He could never be kind or care for more than a few seconds.

"Well, let's see if you understand it this way. So-nny is not co-ming," I imitated his cardboard cutout's automated voice. Chad's face actually fell a bit.

"Wow. I always knew this would happen to me one day. I just kinda expected it to be from a Tisdale or a Montana," he lamented the loss of his pride. Jerk.

He and his cardboard cutout were stopped at the door by Lucy, who was as starstruck as I had been the first time I met Chad. After the Mackenzie Falls star left, I was forced to tell a lie and say that I hadn't been invited to Chad's party. I just wanted things to be the way they used to between me and Lucy, with us doing fun things like making dream catchers and blindfolded makeovers. And it was that way, for a little while at least, until Tawni told Lucy that I _had_ been invited. And then everything got screwed up. I ended up crashing Chad's party by hiding behind one of his cutouts (there were tons) and getting chased by security. In my haste to get away from the scary security guards, I ran right into someone's arms. I looked up and saw the face of the birthday boy himself.

"Hey, Sonny," he smiled at me. His arms were still around me, and my legs, unused to standing in high heels, turned to jello. "Glad you could make it. Did you bring me a gift?"

"Uh, well, you see, I didn't really have time to shop," I laughed nervously, knowing Chad wouldn't like that.

"Ohh, yeah," he nodded understandingly. "Security!"

"Wait! I'm here to apologize to my best friend!" I tried to appeal to Chad's better nature, which I knew existed somewhere inside. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I grinned at him.

"Oh, that's so sweet. Security!" Ugh! So much for his better nature. I distracted the security with a Chad cutout and rushed onto stage, only to be carried off by bodyguards. My appeals to _their _better natures were more successful, however, and they set me down. Chad noticed that the attention of almost everyone in the room was now on me, and he couldn't stand that.

He walked in front of me and told the crowd, "Yeah, okay, so enough of _this_ - let's get back to celebrating _me_," before he was lifted off the stage by security. Ha. Once Lucy and I had made up, we hugged each other and started a domino reaction. All the cutouts of Chad fell, and the real Chad was covered in cake. He stood there, frozen in shock, as Tawni, Lucy, and I ate the remains of his cake and the party went on without him and his cutouts. I couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for him. But only the tiniest bit.

A/N: Reviews make me happy! And I updated double, so review double? Please?


	5. Complicated

A/N: Thank you to Joker236, Hiilani, Fluffness, LovingTheChanny, channylover101, Love at First Fight, WildeEngel, and DannySamLover20 for reviewing! This chapter was super fun to write – I love this episode! I've rushed to put this up, so please excuse any mistakes. :D Please review!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"Why do you have to go and make things so complicated? I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else, it gets me frustrated." -Avril Lavigne_

I was being interviewed for the first time, and my nerves were obvious. I didn't want to risk anything that would make me look bad, and starting off with a meatball in my mouth was not helping matters. Santiago was asking me questions in the commissary when Chad walked over.

"Hey, Sonny, I just brought you some extra napkins. Happy Meatball Monday!" What? Was this the Chad that I knew and used to love? I was acutely aware of his arm around the back of my chair as he leaned in close to talk to me.

"Oh, thanks, Chad. That was oddly thoughtful of you."

"Yeah, well, it never hurts to be nice." I couldn't believe it. I wondered if it was really Chad Dylan Cooper I was talking to. And if it was, he must have reformed. Because if there's one thing I've learned about Chad since I've been here, it's that he isn't nice unless there's a selfish reason behind it. Even if that motivation is something as stupid as the apparent desire to try on a weird beard.

"Oh, Santiago, my man! Didn't see you there," Chad continued as he fist-bumped Santiago. "I am _so_ sorry, are you guys in the middle of an interview?" he feigned.

"What was your first clue, the interviewer or the camera?" I mocked Chad. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's pretension. And I knew that Chad was just pretending to be clueless. He may not be humble or modest, but he IS intelligent. Chad pulled up a chair from a neighboring table and sat next to me. "Why don't you join us?" I asked with fake enthusiasm.

"Don't mind if I do," he grinned back, unfazed by my pointed glares. Apparently Santiago didn't notice them either, based on his next question.

"Hold on. So nice girl from Wisconsin is tight with the Hollywood bad boy?" Ha! As if. But that thought was a little too mean for me to say on television.

"Well, I wouldn't say we were - " I started, smirking inwardly.

"Oh, we're very good friends," Chad quickly cut me off, putting his arm around me again. I was almost starting to get used to that tingling sensation when he did so. Almost. I was over it enough that I knew he was lying.

"Actually, we can't stand each other," I corrected, making sure that Santiago knew the right story. I couldn't help but smile as I said so, though, which made it seem a bit less authentic. Chad laughed at me, as if we were best friends and I was joking.

"And this is the kind of fun we get to have every day," he smiled at Santiago. And I lost it again. I really did. He's just such a good actor, and I'm just too susceptible to his charms. After all, that arm of his did feel absolutely wonderful around me. Besides, what he said wasn't impossible. Maybe he did see our everyday bantering as fun.

"Which apparently is starting today!" I said brightly, hoping that it really was. Chad chuckled again before rubbing my arm with his other hand. It was a good thing I was sitting down at the time.

"Isn't she adorable? That's why Sonny's my favorite member of _So Random!_." Oh my gosh! He thought I was adorable! And I was his favorite "Random"! He was serious, right?

"Really?" I had to clarify.

"Yes, really." Chad smiled at me, his blue eyes sparkling. He really meant it! He really, truly meant it. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. "Santiago, you are lucky to be getting this interview. This girl's going places. Speaking of, I got to go," he continued. More compliments! Maybe I was right before…maybe he did care about me. After all, why else would he be doing all of those nice things? So far, it was the best Meatball Monday ever. Chad pushed his chair back and stood up - I felt the loss of warmth and pressure on my shoulders acutely.

"Let me guess – you've got some dogs to shove?" Santiago said wryly and leaning back in his chair. It didn't really seem like there was much love lost between him and Chad.

"Ye-es…" Chad drew out a bit uncertainly. I turned in my chair to look at him as he amended that statement. "Shoving…dogs towards…bowls of food that I lovingly laid out for them. You know why? I love puppies," he added. Santiago lifted his eyebrows and gave an appraising glance as I secretly cheered. Chad didn't shove puppies mean-spiritedly after all! I had been somewhat worried when I had heard about that.

"Wow. Compliments, kindness...I'm really impressed, Chad," I praised him with a bashful grin.

"Well, it's not about me, Sonny. It's about the dogs." He paused, letting the emotion behind that statement sink in. He also put his hand on my shoulder. Not that I noticed, of course. "It's just a little something to say 'Chad cares.'" Chad cares. The words almost sound weird, but they're nice. The thought of them brought a smile to my face as Chad left the commissary, but not before winking at me with a "Catch you later," as a farewell. Catch me later? Did that mean he wanted to see me again soon? My grin grew as I imagined the possibilities.

"Well, that's a side of him I've never seen before," I admitted to Santiago. He smirked at me, laughing at my naivety.

"That's because it's a side that doesn't exist," he explained. It kind of killed my mood, so I reassured myself that there really was kindness in Chad.

"Oh, I don't know about that, Santiago. You know, when Chad wants to, he can be a really great guy." And it was true. Like when he had offered his hand to me in musical chairs. Or when he had pretended to be Eric for me. I was about to tell Santiago about some of these incidences when he turned to the camera. Oh well. There would be plenty of time for that later.

And apparently, Chad had meant what he said about catching me later too. I was just telling Santiago what it was like sharing a dressing room with Tawni Hart when Chad walked in.

"Knock knock! Guess who?" he greeted as he entered, carrying a puppy.

"Chad? What are you doing here?" Even after what had happened in the commissary, I hadn't really been sure he would follow through. But I guess I was mistaken.

"Well, I said I'd catch you later. It's later, and I'm catching you," he smiled and pointed his finger at me. Wow. Chad did what he said he was going to do? Weird. But the new Chad was starting to grow on me.

"O...kay, who's this? And does this cute little guy have a name?" I asked, referring to the adorable puppy currently in Chad's arms. I was mildly jealous of it for that reason.

"Yeah, it's Cupcake, he's one of the hungry dogs I feed." Wow. He was serious. He actually _did_ feed hungry dogs. Where else would he have gotten the dog from? "Oh my gosh, the cameras are here, I've done it again," Chad said remorsefully. But I was past caring about the cameras.

"Can I hold him?"

"Of course!" Chad answered willingly before handing Cupcake to me. Chad's hands brushed slightly against mine as he did so, and a secret smile came to my face.

"Oh, he's so cute!" I exclaimed when the puppy was firmly in my grasp.

"Yeah, when I saw him I thought of you." Was that supposed to mean he thought I was cute? Or that I looked like a dog?

"That's a compliment, right?" I asked a bit nervously, hoping he would say yes.

"Of course," Chad grinned, showing off his dimples. I couldn't help but smile back. He practically had told me he thought I was cute!

"You know, I have to admit - I'm starting to like the new you," I told him truthfully.

"It's not new, it's just me. People think they know me, but they don't." Was he trying to say that he was really like how he had been in the past half hour or so? That he was really kind and romantic and wonderful like I had thought in Wisconsin? I hoped so.

Santiago interrupted with the news that the camera broke and they had to go back to the truck to get another camera. They hadn't even fully left the room before Chad spoke.

"Oh, I gotta go," he said while taking Cupcake out of my arms.

"Wait, what are you doing? You just got here," I protested, hoping for him to stay a bit longer.

"Yeah. And now I'm just leaving," he replied as he started to walk away. Why would he leave? I hadn't said anything that would make him want to...and he had seemed perfectly happy to stay until the camera broke.

"You're not just leaving because the camera broke, are you?" I asked. Chad's look in response said it all. "Oh my gosh, you're leaving because the camera broke!" Did that mean it had all just been for the camera?

"No, that's not the only reason!" Chad argued back. But that still meant it was one of the reasons. I could only imagine how awful the other reason must be.

"Let me guess, the dog's a rental?" I said sarcastically. Chad didn't reply, and his somewhat guilty expression shocked me. "Oh my gosh, the dog's a rental!" I bet he didn't even feed hungry dogs. What a jerk.

"Look, it's not that big a deal," Chad tried to defend himself. "You can rent anything in this town. Okay, if I'd gotten bad press for shoving an old lady, I could have rented an old lady." And that was supposed to justify it? What kind of logic was that? Well, I couldn't really judge that. I had thought it was logical that Chad would actually reform and say all those nice things.

"Wait a minute. The cafeteria, the puppy, the you 'catching me later'? You were just trying to use me to make yourself look better!" I paused, and the denial from Chad that I was hoping for didn't come. "God, I'm such an idiot," I cursed myself. Honestly, how many more times could I fall into his little trap?

"Oh, no you're not," Chad assured me. I looked up at him hopefully. "Look at how fast you figured that out!" Okay, that really was not helping matters. So much for "Chad cares"!

"You are unbelievable! You know, I'm not surprised you used me, but to use this poor, sweet, defenseless dog?" Apparently Chad felt no remorse over using me, so I tried to make him feel guilty about Cupcake.

"Hey, I'm not using it for free. This thing's costing me sixty bucks an hour!" Chad rolled his eyes, apparently disgusted by the price. The price. He had just used me, the cameras, the puppy, and God knows who else, and he was upset over sixty lousy bucks. He cared more about the money - and it wasn't even a lot of money - than he did about me. My already wounded pride pretty much collapsed, and in my emotionally vulnerable state, I lashed out at him.

"You - you - you poser! You are the most shallow, self-absorbed, conceited jerkface I have ever met! And you know what? This is _my_ room. And this is _my_ interview. And this is my _foot_, which is gonna kick you in the butt if you don't get out." Chad lifted his eyebrows like he didn't care, but I saw something in his eyes that was almost regretful. But of course, almost wasn't good enough.

Santiago walked into the room with the cameraman, grinning hugely. Apparently, they had caught my entire outburst on tape. Chad then proceeded to call me "monster," as Santiago left to show the world what a diva I was. The day couldn't get any worse.

But the next day could. My rant was on _Tween Weekly TV_, and suddenly everyone thought I was explosive. When I went down to the commissary to get Chad to clear my name, I was pelted with bread rolls. Once I reached him, I promised both to Chad and myself that I wouldn't yell or lose my temper before asking the girl sitting next to him for her seat.

"Wow. You are workin' the diva thing." Chad seemed to almost be getting entertainment out of the whole thing.

"I'm not a diva, Chad." I would have thought that he, at least, would know that I wasn't. After all, he knew the truth behind that video.

"I know that," he replied. He smiled sincerely, looking like he cared. Good. Here was his chance to prove it.

"Well, then tell Santiago! I want people to know me for who I am." A concept that Chad probably wouldn't understand. But still, I held out hope that he would talk to Santiago.

"And I want people to know me for who I'm not." So much for that hope. "Look, I like you. And I'm sorry the rest of the world doesn't know the real you," Chad continued sincerely. I almost started to grin at him when I realized that he probably didn't mean it. After all, if what he said was true, why would he have just let Santiago think I was an out-of-control diva?

"It's your fault!" I exclaimed in frustration.

"Is it, Sonny? Is it _really_?" He tried to use his classic persuasive line to convince me that he was the good guy. Ha. Not happening.

"Yes. It is. _Really_!" I retorted, starting to reach my breaking point. Honestly, there was only so much I could take.

"...Yeah, I gotta go," Chad said, clearly lacking a Plan B after his usual line failed to work. "I told Santiago I would be building doghouses for homeless dogs in the morning." Ha! Yeah, right.

"_You_ build doghouses?" I asked incredulously, sure of a negative answer. Chad laughed.

"No. No, but I know how to make myself look good in front of the camera," he boasted, an obvious jab at my deficiency in that particular area. I glared at him as he left, realizing that I had accomplished nothing.

After speaking to the girl who had been with Chad earlier, I knew what I had to do. There was only one way to fight fire, and it was with more fire. I showed up the next morning at the park where Chad was building doghouses, determined to make myself look better.

"Oh, hey, Chad! Is this the house you've been building for homeless dogs? Impressive." I took on the persona of my usual, peppy self, with a hint of sarcasm and mockery of Chad's behavior on Monday. Chad gave a small fake laugh.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, clearly confused by my presence.

"Oh, Chompers and I were in the neighborhood, and we thought we'd stop by and bring you some extra nails. We knew you were building doghouses. You know, it never hurts to be nice!" I smiled widely at him, letting him see how ridiculous his little charade was. "Oh, Santiago, my man! I didn't see you there!" Santiago smiled and looked down, knowing what I was aiming for. Chad put his arm around me and pulled me to him. I told myself not to be affected by it, but my toes still danced just a bit.

"I know what you're doing," Chad said to me in a low voice as he held me close to him. And I knew what _he_ was doing. He was probably trying to dazzle me once more. But it wasn't going to work.

"Do you, Chad? Do you _really_?" I glared at him as I stole his line. He shook his head at me, seemingly ready for battle. I took his hammer and turned towards the camera, ready to make myself shine.

Two hours later, Santiago decided to check in on our houses. I twisted another one of Chad's lines around by saying "It's not about the houses, Santiago. It's all about the dogs. Right, Chad?" I turned to him with a grin.

"...right," he replied, smiling nervously. I laughed to myself.

"If it was all about the houses, there would be no contest," I added.

"So is this all just a contest to you?" Santiago pounced on my statement. I sputtered in disbelief as he told the camera, "Out-of-control diva? Also an overcompetitive diva." Chad let out a laugh, and I looked back at him with disgust. Santiago walked off, and I sighed.

"I give up!"

"Hey, you tried. You tried to make me look bad, but you just couldn't. You're just too nice." I wondered if Chad meant that as a compliment or an insult. Actually, he probably didn't mean it in a certain way at all. He had a tendency not to mean anything he said, as I had found out the hard way. "And I'm too good at pretending to be nice." Well, he got that right.

"I thought I could do to you what you did to me. But I guess I can't play this game as well as you can," I said regretfully. "I have to give you props."

"Oh, props accepted. I mean, the way I suckered _you_ into letting _me_ use _your_ press to make _me _look better? That was _brilliant_!" He smirked, basking in the glory of his genius. Time to make him look like a fool.

"Well, you _do _do some of your best work on camera." I smiled appreciatively at him. He laughed before realizing that he didn't know what I meant.

"What do you mean?"

"You're on camera! Smile into my hat," I grinned, proud that I had bested him.

"You didn't." Chad's expression of shock made me laugh.

"But I did," I shrugged while taking off my hat and pulling out the hidden camera. "Bad girl revealed to be good, heartthrob revealed to be jerkthrob. On her way to Santiago Heraldo, I'm Sonny Munroe," I said into the camera, sneaking a triumphant glance at Chad as I did so.

"Well played, Munroe," Chad said with grudging admiration. Wait, what? Admiration?

"Props accepted," I gloated with a smile.

"We should hang out sometime." He looked straight into my eyes, and I trembled a bit. No, no, I was _not_ going to fall for it again!

"The camera's off, Chad," I reminded him. He might as well stop pretending.

"I know." Everything about it seemed genuine – the way he looked at me, the way he spoke, the way I felt myself go weak in the knees. I ducked my head in embarrassment before offering a shy smile and walking away. Fake? Maybe. Genuine? I hoped so. Complicated? Most definitely. But that was the definition of Chad Dylan Cooper.

A/N: Please review! Please please please!


	6. The Way I Loved You

A/N: Oh my gosh. I feel awful, I haven't updated this story in awhile. I've been super busy, and I apologize! Also, I haven't been replying to the reviews that I've been getting as much, but hopefully the time that I spent writing this and not replying will make up for it! Plus, this chapter's really long. I think this chapter might be tied with the last one for my favorite. Tell me what you think! Thanks a gazillion to you reviewers – call me what you want, Fluffness, funducky, Joker236, channylover101, WildeEngel, and Love at First Fight – you guys are amazing. I know this story isn't original (to say the least), so it means the world to me that you are actually reading and reviewing and even favoriting!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"He is sensible and so incredible, and all my single friends are jealous." -Taylor Swift_

I surveyed the food in the commissary after the rehearsal for our latest sketch. It was all disgusting, except for a plate that was right next to mine. _That_ plate was loaded with delicious-looking tacos, an opinion which I voiced aloud. The owner of the plate, James Conroy, was flirting quite obviously with me when Chad walked up.

"Hey, I got her to make me a rack of lamb!" he bragged to James, holding up the plate for evidence. Once Chad had convinced James to "stick with him," he turned to me.

"Sonny," Chad greeted with a frozen smile on his face, which convinced me that it must be fake.

"Chad," I shot back with a glare. I swear, it's like the guy's bipolar. One day, he calls me "adorable" and says "we should hang out," and then just a few days later, he cares more about lamb than me. I've given up trying to figure him and his moods out.

"Anyways, they're shooting our scene. We should probably go," Chad turned to James again.

"Oh, you're on _Mackenzie Falls_ this week? Let me guess, stuck up Mackenzie being chased by bad boy bank robber." I smirked at Chad, glad that I had insulted his show. After all, he prized it over everything, excluding himself of course.

"Let me guess, Life of the Boston Tea Party," Chad retorted, glancing over my teapot outfit with a grin. Shoot, he was right.

"Well, at least my show brings joy to our viewers," I laughed, confident that he couldn't boast the same of his.

"At least my show _has _viewers." Ouch. I had to admit, that was a good one. Stupid Chad and his stupid witty comebacks.

" Wow. What's goin' on here?" James asked, clearly taken aback by our exchange. He seemed to be smiling and nodding his head a bit as he said it, as though he sensed something. Ha! Right. There was _nothing_.

" Nothing," Chad answered immediately. I guess his thoughts were the same as mine.

"It's _beyond _nothing," I added. I definitely didn't want a cute guy who had been flirting with me only moments before to get the wrong idea. I would kill Chad if he ruined my chances of dating James, or at least getting to know him a little better. After all, I could go out with people. I was free to do as I liked. And I wasn't sighing and waiting for any guy, either. That period of my life was over. Thanks to Chad Dylan Cooper.

"It's certainly nothing to be late over," Chad said nervously. Nervously? What did _he _have to be nervous about? "Our scene's up first after lunch," he mentioned in a somewhat more normal tone. "Sonny," he repeated, this time with a smile. I couldn't tell if it was real or not.

"Chad," I gave him a huge fake grin as I bade him farewell in a bright voice. Then I dropped the façade and frowned at him. His smile disappeared and he stared at me with a blank expression before walking away. What the heck was that supposed to mean? Oh well. Apparently James wasn't deterred by Chad, because he (James, obviously not Chad) then proceeded to ask me out. I grinned to myself, relishing the feeling of being liked and wanted. Then I tossed my hair and gave James a coy glance, giving him a "maybe" as a response and walking away with his tasty tacos. Perhaps Chad_ had _taught me something after all - how to take others' food.

But James was evidently well-schooled in charm. Even after Tawni warned me about him, I still fell for it. The flowers, the calls...I almost didn't have a choice. Once we were actually on the date, I had a great time. In the beginning, anyways. I was winning every game that we played, and James had just complimented me when Tawni plopped down next to me. I was just starting to get angry with her when Chad slid into the seat next to James.

"Whoo, sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" The _nerve_! Barging in on my date? At least I knew Tawni was trying to protect me, for whatever odd reason, but there was no excuse for Chad to be there. James said something about chicken fingers that I totally missed, wrapped up in thoughts about Chad. And no, not in the way you would think, either. Although he did look pretty cute in his casual clothes, which he hardly ever wore. No, no, stupid thought.

"What are you doing here?" James asked Chad, taking the words right out of my mouth. Chad scoffed as though the reason should have been obvious.

"I came to hang out with my _bro_. So what are you doing here?" he directed at Tawni. Which would mean that he knew _I _was going to be here, since he didn't ask me as well. But then why would he come to hang out with James when he knew _I _was with James?

"What are _you_ doing here?" Tawni retorted.

"What are _they_ doing here?" James seemed a bit befuddled by the rapidly growing number of people.

"What are _we_ still doing here?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in desperation. The night wasn't exactly going as I had planned.

"Do you wanna make a break for it? I know how to tuck and roll," James suggested. I jumped at the chance - anything to get away from Chad. I knew from when he walked up with lamb that he would screw things up for me with James. And I had been right.

"I am right behind you." As we both tried to escape, Chad and Tawni held us back. Apparently, neither of them wanted James and me to be by ourselves. I privately wondered why.

"Who's up for some chicken fingers and skeeball?" Tawni asked with fake excitement, pulling me close to her as she made sure that I didn't make a run for it. There was no way out.

The "date" proceeded awkwardly, until I forced Tawni to play air hockey with me. I soon realized that Tawni was actually the one who had dated James. So much for protecting me - she was probably only jealous. Which made me wonder if Chad was jealous too. After all, he wouldn't be trying to protect me. James was a great guy; I didn't see why everyone felt the need to keep us from being together. But Chad Dylan Cooper, jealous? The thought was just too weird.

The next day, another bouquet of flowers was decorating our dressing room, and I sighed in delight. Much to my dismay, however, the flowers were for Tawni. Even though they came from the guy whom I had gone on a date with less than 24 hours ago. Tawni was right - James was a jerk. We decided to get back at him by keeping him from getting what he wanted, which would end up being me, as long as I had a fake date. At the words "fake date," I instantly knew who to ask.

Chad and I walked into the arcade together, and I immediately spotted James and Tawni.

"Quick! Hold my hand!" I grabbed Chad's hand, a bit more forcefully than necessary. He pulled his hand away as a reflex, which, I'll admit, didn't make me feel too good.

"Don't tell me what to do!" I resisted the urge to tell him that he sounded like a spoiled brat.

"We're on a fake date. We have to make it look believable!" I argued, frustrated. It was almost like we couldn't go for longer than two seconds together before we started bickering.

"Well, if you wanna hold hands you have to switch sides." There were even conditions for holding hands? I obviously made the wrong choice in a fake date.

"Why?"

"Cuz this is my holding hand," Chad explained as he held up the hand that was farther from me. Of course.

"Fine. And just so you know, this is our first and last fake date," I told him with a pointed glare as I switched sides. There was no way that I was going to go through this again.

"Good."

"Good! Now smile like you're having the time of your life," I instructed. As we walked over to our table, my smile grew larger. When Chad was smiling and not opening his mouth, I could almost forget what a jerk he was. It was the perfect time to relish holding his hand.

"They're looking this way. Put your arm around me," I said as I noticed James and Tawni looking over at us. Not that I _wanted_ Chad's arm around me. It was just what he would do if we were on a real date. So it was only logical that he should do it. Right?

"Well, I would, but you sat on the wrong side. This arm says, 'let's cuddle,' and this arm says, 'Hey, good game bro!'" Of course. The wrong side again. Well, I was _not_ going to give in again.

"Well, I'm saying just put one of them around me!" Chad pouted a little, but he did as I told him to. I grinned involuntarily as his arm settled on my shoulders.

"Oh, you should probably put your head on my shoulder," Chad suggested after a little while. I felt a thrill go up my spine, and I desperately hoped that Chad hadn't detected it.

"Okay," I agreed quickly before resting my head on his shoulder. A smile spread across my face. It was one of the nicest positions I had ever been in. "This is nice," I admitted aloud before hastily adding, "in theory." I could enjoy it, but that didn't mean I had to let him know.

"Yeah, we, uh...make a good couple," Chad agreed. I almost screamed in delight. "Hypothetically," he tacked on to the end of his statement. But the brief hesitation before the "hypothetically" convinced me that Chad had only added that part for reasons similar to mine. 'Yes!' I silently cheered before noticing James staring.

"He's looking this way. In reality," I told Chad. I took a deep breath before smiling widely and tapping him on the nose playfully. He took the cue and started to grin too, pulling me closer and even brushing his nose against mine and pretending to nibble on my ear. I laughed, perfectly content. Now I remembered why I had chosen Chad to be my fake date. At least I got to experience something like this with him, even if it was fake.

My phone suddenly mooed, and I sat up, pulling it out of my pocket. "I got a text!" I exclaimed before realizing whose phone the message came from. "From...you?"

"What, that jerk still has my phone?" Chad asked as I read the message.

"And he already wants me back!" Yes, our plan worked!

"Already..." Chad trailed off with an unidentifiable emotion in his voice. I decided to ignore it for now; there would be time to ponder it later.

"I know! How good are we?" No reponse was forthcoming from Chad, but before I had time to wonder about it, Nico and Grady slid into the seat across from us. I privately made a vow to never go on a date there again - real or otherwise, they were all interrupted. Then I realized that they had probably seen me flirting - cuddling - whatever the word is - with Chad, the supposed enemy. Shoot.

"Well, well, well, well." Nico leaned forward with a disapproving look at me. I smiled nervously.

"So, you guys on a date?" Grady crossed his arms. I went with the easy way out of the sticky situation.

"It's fake," I admitted to them. Even if I wished otherwise.

"Oh, then why didn't you ask one of _us_ to be your fake date?" Grady asked. I searched frantically for a response that would make sense.

"Obviously she doesn't think we're good enough to be her fake date," Nico answered for me. I glanced down, a bit embarrassed to think that he had hit the nail on the head. I mean, Nico and Grady are great and all, but would someone like James really be jealous of one of _them_? Chad was a much better option. In more ways than just that one.

"Either one of us would have made a _much_ better fake date than Chip Drama Pants over here." Grady glared at Chad, and I rolled my eyes. Honestly? Guys were _so_ weird when it came to competition.

"I don't think so." Chad shook his head, and I was tempted to agree with him. Luckily, Nico made some kind of odd noise before calling Chad "Chip" again. All three guys sat up and started making faces at each other. How mature.

"Okay, can we talk about this later?" I quickly broke in before a fight started.

"Fine. But just so you know, I've been in three, four, _five_ fake relationships. So I could have helped you on your little _fake date_," Nico stressed that it was a fake date just as James was walking over. Perfect timing. Not.

"Ohh, so this is a fake date," James pointed at Chad and me, and we hastily resumed our "couple" position.

"No, this is real. As real as can be," I defended, smiling at Chad as I did so. He did that adorable little twitchy thing with his nose as I looked at him, and my grin grew.

"So you're lying to us?" Grady's expression was offended, and I immediately felt guilty.

"No!" I exclaimed immediately, sitting forward. Chad's arm slipped off my shoulders, and I regretted my movement.

"Oh, so you're lying to _me_?" James pointed at himself, baffled again. I was beginning to get the feeling that he wasn't exactly the brightest person on the planet.

"No!" I repeated as I lay back again. Chad was already putting his arm around me, which made me wonder if he had wanted to keep it there all along. The little thrill that the thought gave me inspired my next action. "Look, would I do _this_ if I were on a fake date?" I glared at James before turning to Chad. His expression was bewildered, and I almost laughed. Slapping my hand over his mouth, I leaned forward and kissed him. Well, technically, I didn't kiss _him_, I kissed my hand. But his tongue darted forward and slipped between my fingers, brushing against my lips, which made me sit back up immediately. A beam automatically unfolded across my face.

The "kiss" didn't just give me goosebumps – it also gave James what he deserved. He completely flipped out at the sight of such proof that I was over him, and Tawni and I proceeded to carry out our plan. James ran away; or rather, he tucked and rolled away in defeat. Tawni smirked triumphantly before strutting out of the arcade, while Nico and Grady headed to the mushy machine. I sat down in the seat across from Chad, crossing my arms.

"That was some kiss," Chad smiled at me. Wait, what? He smiled? At _me_? It wasn't even a smirk? But of course, it was because of something that was fake. How ironic.

"What do you mean? That kiss was fake," I scoffed. _No matter how much I wish it wasn't_, I added privately in my head.

"Was not!" Chad quickly denied, in a manner that made me think maybe he wished that it wasn't either. I sighed and decided to explain.

"Chad, I put my hand over your mouth." I couldn't help but smile.

"Well, that explains why your lips tasted like skeeball and air hockey," Chad lifted an eyebrow as I shuddered in disgust. How would he even know what those tasted like? And since when do hands taste like activities? He was probably just making it up. Maybe he was disappointed that I didn't really kiss him. Ha! Yeah, right. But did he believe that I actually would kiss him?

"Do you actually think that I would really kiss you?" I leaned forward in anticipation of his answer.

"Well, that's what I'm gonna put on my blog!" He suddenly ducked to the side before rolling out in the same way that James had only moments before. "Peace out, suckas!" he said in an odd voice before running away.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but I still smiled. So typical of Chad. Maybe our date hadn't been real, and maybe I hadn't exactly planned on being left alone in the arcade, but the night had still been one of the best ones that I had had after coming to Hollywood. After all, I had gotten to pretend that I was Chad Dylan Cooper's girlfriend. After all, who was I kidding? Maybe Chad wasn't the guy who I had thought he was when I worshipped him back in Wisconsin. But maybe I liked him even more as the guy who he _really_ was – a conceited jerk at times, and a pretty sweet guy at others. Maybe the way he was – was just perfect. Maybe I fell for him even harder when I knew what he was really like. But even amongst all those maybes, I knew that I _definitely_ would never tell anyone about my revelation. No, I would go on pretending to hate Chad. Because letting him know – or letting anyone else know – wouldn't lead to anywhere except heartbreak. I vowed to myself, then and there, to hide my love for Chad Dylan Cooper for as long as it lasted. Oh, help me, God. I'm going to need it.

A/N: So I made Sonny realize her love for Chad after this episode. I know many of you may disagree, but I just see her behavior after this episode as a bit more aware of her own feelings – more nervous, more significant actions. It could be a little OOC, but oh well :D Please review! Just taking a minute or two of your time really makes my entire day.


	7. You're Not Sorry

A/N: Wow, it's been five days since I last updated, and there really isn't much to show for it. :P Just kidding. I wrote this chapter, but there honestly isn't much Channy in it. I was contemplating just leaving it out all together, but I decided to just write it instead. Thank you, reviewers: Fluffness, channylover101, WildeEngel, call me what you want, and channy is awesomeness! This chapter doesn't really come close to the last one, but hey, that's just because of the episode itself! :D Please review.

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

"_You don't have to call anymore. I won't pick up the phone." –Taylor Swift_

The ambassador of fun – my new title. Self-appointed, of course. And it even came with a hat! I had decided to be the ambassador of fun when I found out that an underprivileged little girl from the Children Having A Dream foundation was coming to spend the day at _So Random!_. I was in the commissary with Tawni, preparing a basket, complete with muffins and bananas (no, Tawni wasn't preparing it, of course – I was), when Chad walked up.

"Oh, hey, look at that! It's me and my cast at every hot club in Hollywood," Chad boasted, pointing at the numerous pictures of him in Tawni's magazine before turning to me. "Oh, and you in a dumb hat." He spun the propeller on my ambassador of fun hat, and I glared at him.

"Well, we don't care about pictures in magazines!" Tawni scoffed at Chad. I tried hard to keep a straight face; after all, she had just been lamenting the fact that she was underphotographed. "Okay? _We_ have charity." She placed her hand on the basket possessively, as though she had been the one who went to all of the work necessary. I swear, she's as bipolar as Chad.

"You don't care that you're on page 48 of _Tween Weekly_?" Chad informed us as he sat down. Tawni gasped.

"We are?!" She pulled open the magazine in anticipation before her forehead wrinkled in disappointment and disgust. "_This_ is how the world sees us," she folded open the page and held it up to me. "Cheese pants. This is why we don't get invited anywhere cool!" I started playing around with the propeller on my hat as she spoke, brushing off her claim. Chad chuckled.

" Sure." He looked at me pointedly as I whirled the propeller once more, grinning in delight as it spun around. "It's the pants." I immediately ceased and glared at him again. Leave it to him to spoil my fun. Honestly, if I didn't like him, I wouldn't like him! …Did that even make sense?

"Chad, you are so superficial," I accused. Instead of the retort I expected, he laughed. That was odd.

"Yeah, all I hear from that is 'Chad, you are so super,' blah blah blah." He added in hand gestures to make his pint, and I rolled my eyes as he pursed his lips at me. Useless. Utterly useless. I returned to arranging the gift basket and lost all interest in the conversation around me until Tawni suddenly pulled my chair back. I then found out that I had almost upset Mr. Condor, the owner of Condor Studios, and therefore the one who had the authority to cancel my show at a moment's notice. How lovely.

As was Dakota, the little girl from the Children Having A Dream foundation. She was incredibly appreciative of the gift basket, and her profound reflections on struggles and name calling surprised e with their depth. Of course, all that disappeared once she saw a poster of none other than Chad Dylan Cooper.

"_Mackenzie Falls_ shoot here?! I had no idea!" she smiled innocently at me before sighing. "I love Chad Dylan Cooper." Join the club, sweetheart.

"Yeah, so does Chad Dylan Cooper," I countered, crossing my arms as I mentally replayed a few of his more selfish moments.

"Can I meet him?" Dakota begged, much more excited now than she had been a few minutes ago. Gee, thanks. I wonder why.

"But you won the day at _So Random!_!" I reminded her quickly, smiling and hoping her enthusiasm for _my_ show would reappear. It didn't, and her face fell.

"I…get it, Sonny. It's just another disappointment," she mourned in the voice of one who has suffered many tragedies. And, of course, I fell for it.

"No! No no no no! Sonny Munroe does not_ dis_appoint!" I assured Dakota, and her expression lit up again. "Yeah! She _a_ppoints!" The look on her face was totally worth it.

"You'd do that for _me_?" she asked incredulously, a grin to match mine spread across her face.

"Just watch me dial my cell phone," I promised, pulling it out as I spoke.

"This is Chad Dylan Cooper," said the answering machine on the other side. "Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you were important enough, you'd have the number to the phone I answer." My jaw dropped in disbelief. He gave _me_ the number that was for people of lesser or no importance to him? I hid my distress and hung up the phone, turning to Dakota.

"Let's go get some ice cream!" I hastily suggested, hoping that the promise of _Mackenzie Falls _and its main star wasn't one that I was going to regret. But of course, it was. In the commissary, Dakota hardly ate her burger, and she commented that "her life was sour." So, of course, I picked up the phone and called Chad again. What else was I supposed to do? This time, however, he actually picked up.

"CDC here," he greeted. Gosh, he couldn't even answer with a simple "hello"? He _had_ to somehow fit his name in?

"Really, Chad?" I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Sonny? Oh, man, I answered the wrong phone?" Ouch. Further confirmation that he didn't want to talk to me. Dakota's hopeful face caught my eye, and I bit back the retort I was going to give Chad.

"Listen, I need a favor," I said sweetly, hoping it would help. "I have the sweetest girl here, and she really wants to meet you." Chad chuckled.

"Ooh. What's she look like?" Was that really all he cared about? What the girl _looked_ like? Good to know. I had fallen for the shallowest jerk in existence.

"She's _nine_," I informed him with some pleasure. At first, there was silence on the other end. I held my breath, hoping he would accept - and then I heard the dial tone. Chad had hung up on me. I froze for a moment in shock at his rudeness, but Dakota and her expectant expression remind me that I have to pretend Chad is wonderful. I wouldn't want to crush her fantasies like Chad crushed mine, after all. "Yeah, no, bad connection! I'll call you back, don't worry about it," I faked into the phone, giggling at "Chad."

"Bad connection," I told Dakota as I hung up and redialed his number. She nodded, but didn't seem very convinced. I needed to work on being more believable.

"CDC, what it do?" Chad answered the phone. I guess he had forgotten that it was the wrong one. Lucky me.

"Look, Chad, I have the sweetest little girl in the world here, and she really wants to meet you," I entreated. Yes, I was begging Chad Dylan Cooper. But only for Dakota's sake. That underprivileged little girl didn't know what lengths I was going to.

"Man, I gotta get a third phone," was his only response. I took a deep breath, controlling myself.

"Come on, Chad. She really, really wants to meet you. She's a huge fan." I hoped that his already inflated ego would get a kick out of meeting a fan like Dakota.

"Yeah, of course she does. But unlike you, we're very busy at _Mackenzie Falls_. So besides, I'm – " I caught sight of Chad in a bathrobe and sunglasses, lazing about with his cast as he made a noise that sounded vaguely like static. "Hold on. There's a tunnel. I'll talk to you later. We should hang out," he slurred in between more pretend static. Hang out? Yeah, right! Not when he gave me a different number for his phone and made fun of my hat! I got fed up and yelled through the phone.

"Chad, I can see you!" He immediately sat up in his chair and glanced around, peering over his sunglasses until he saw me. He froze for a couple seconds before replying.

"Alright, so you can see that I'm very busy? So don't bring that kid over to the Falls either, because we are _all_ very busy," he said before hanging up once more. That was really getting irritating. But there was really only one thing to do if Chad didn't want to meet Dakota. And that was to break the news to her.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later! Peace out," I said into the phone as I walked back into the commissary, pretending once again that Chad was still on the other line. Dakota looked up at me with wide, excited eyes. I hated having to disappoint her.

"Look, Dakota, Chad can't make it. He's, uh, very busy." I had a feeling that the excuse wasn't going to work on her any more than it had on me.

"Of course he is," she sighed unhappily. "Story of my life." Okay, the tragic, dramatic thing really wasn't helping.

"Hey, come on! Now, when life gives you lemons, what do you do? You make lemonade!" I tried to cheer her up. It didn't work.

"I don't want lemons, I want _Chad_!" Dakota whined. Yeah, so did I, but neither of us got what we wanted. I looked around for something to console her with, and my eyes fell on the basket I had prepared earlier.

"Well, what if that lemonade you were drinking was coming out of a _So Random! _crazy straw?" I asked, holding it up for her to see. "See, it's so…" Dakota interrupted me with a pout.

"I. Want. CHAD!" she yelled before stomping on my foot as hard as she possibly could and running away. Well, at least _I _was a little more mature about it. I ran after her as she stormed into the prop house, where the rest of my castmates were hanging out. It was pretty much a disaster. Dakota's true self came out when she destroyed "Gnomie," shouted at all of us, demanded to see Chad, and stomped on my foot once more. She then managed to tie me up and gag me. Once my cast found me, I was ready to kill that little devil. And then we were startled to find that she was the daughter of Mr. Condor, meaning that we had to acquiesce to her wishes. Otherwise, our show would be cancelled.

Another bombshell? The **C**hildren **H**aving **A D**ream foundation actually stood for **CHAD**. Uh huh. You'd think I would have realized that. "Children Having A Dream" didn't even sound grammatically correct. Dakota sent us all out to bring Chad to her, and I had the dubious honor of finding him first.

"I'm looking at them on my other phone right now!" Chad exclaimed into one of his phones as I came up to him. He seemed pretty frustrated, and I was tempted to ask him why. But then I remembered that my day hadn't exactly been peachy either, and there was a very particular reason for that. Which was my reason for talking to Chad anyways.

"Hey, Chad, I need something – "

"Yeah, let me tell you what _I _need. Okay?" Chad interrupted. I frowned at him. I guess I didn't need to ask him what was wrong after all.

"Why are your needs always more important than mine?" I hoped he would take on his nice persona and deny it, but he didn't. Shocking. Instead, he continued with informing me about his needs. Ahem. That sounded a bit wrong.

"Look, your friends got into this hot new club called 'The Basement,' and you have _got_ to get me in there." Gasp! Chad Dylan Cooper needed something from _me_? I relished the feeling of power.

"Oh! So you need something from me, huh?" I crossed my arms and smirked at him. It was good to finally be holding something over him instead of the other way around. Even though I needed something from him too.

"Where's this going?" Chad asked quickly. He could obviously tell that I had something up my sleeve.

"I'll get you into the Basement," I promised. It couldn't be that hard, right? Especially since Tawni, Nico, and Grady knew where it was.

"Awesome," Chad nodded in agreement.

"And," I added with a grin. I knew that he wasn't going to like _my_ condition once he met the little demon of a fangirl.

"This is why I have two phones," he explained. I ignored the pang that his statement gave me and continued.

"You take that little girl from the charity with you. Actually, funny little story, she's not actually from a charity. She's – " Chad cut in again.

"Sonny, I don't care about the girl, or the charity, or your funny little stories that seem to never be funny or little." Ouch. Fine. If that's the way he wanted it, I wasn't going to hand him information. He could be as surprised as I had been. "Okay, I'll do whatever, I just need to _get into the Basement_." Chad emphasized the last few words with a touch of urgency. Honestly, what was the big deal about the Basement anyways? I shook my head.

"No problemo. And you know what? I won't bore you with _any_ details of who that little girl is," I leaned forward unconsciously and smiled at him. He wasn't going to know what hit him.

"Good," Chad retorted.

"Good," I repeated satisfactorily.

"Fine," he shot back as I usually did. I laughed and shook my head again as I walked off.

"Fine," I said nonchalantly. I could see the confusion on his face, and it made me grin even wider. That soon disappeared, however, once I found out that the Basement didn't exactly exist. We rebuilt it, though, and I hoped fervently that no one else would find out – in particular, Chad and Mr. Condor. Tawni was sent to bring Chad in, blindfolded, and I brought Dakota.

"Chad," I addressed him in our customary manner.

"Sonny," he responded. "Alright, let's get this over with. Where's the punchline to your funny little story?" I grinned as I made the introductions.

"Chad, Dakota," I gestured. "Dakota," I began as she pulled off her blindfold. She gasped in delight.

"CHAD!" she squealed. Chad smiled, always glad to see his fans.

"Aw. You must be the sweet little girl I'm obligated to hang with!" Dakota clapped twice in response, the cue for me to pick her up. She studied Chad's face at first before examining the back of his head. He seemed fairly disturbed by her inspection, and I would have laughed if I wasn't currently holding her up. One of Dakota's favorite songs began to play, and I was forced to keep holding her as she danced with Chad. I exchanged glares with him over the top of her head before she drew his attention back to her.

"So…I'm feeling a little third-wheel-ish, but thanks for the dance!" I exclaimed before setting Dakota down and walking away. Tawni came up to meet me.

"So far, so good. Chad's believing it," she said. I laughed.

"Yeah, well, Chad still believes Miley and Hannah are two different people." Tawni and I snickered as Chad's dance with Dakota came to an end.

"So, it was great meeting you. You have _outstanding_ taste in TV stars, I just need to dance with someone a little more…not you," Chad said as he tried to escape. It couldn't have been me he was looking at when he was searching for a dance partner, could it? No. No, definitely not. That was just my subconscious wishing he was.

Dakota made her demands for the evening known to Chad, who got more than a little creeped out and walked away. He attempted to make a move on the girls Nico and Grady were with (I suppose it wasn't me he was looking at after all), but it failed, most likely because Dakota was clinging to his leg, as he pointed out. Just then, Mr. Condor walked in, blindfolded and dancing. Chad immediately tried to schmooze, as per usual.

"Oh, hey, Mr. Condor! Hey, how's it going, man?" Then he made the mistake that I had most hoped he would. "Can you believe this little brat?" Chad asked, gesturing to Dakota.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she exclaimed in response before running into Mr. Condor's arms.

"D-Daddy?" Chad put his hand up to his mouth, as if he could take back the words he had said. I walked up to him and smirked.

"Yeah, there's your funny little punchline!" I smacked him on the arm, glad to get back at him. "And boy, is he gonna be mad at you for yelling at his daughter!" Mr. Condor put Dakota down and walked over to me and Chad. We instinctively moved backwards.

"Sonny? You brought my precious angel to a Hollywood club?"

"Sounds like he's mad at you," Chad chuckled nervously. Did he seriously have such good luck that he wasn't going to get blamed?

"Oh no!" Mr. Condor pointed a finger at Chad. "He's mad at you too!" Ha. At least I wasn't the only one.

"Actually, Mr. Condor, it's a _really_ funny story," I began anxiously when Chad broke in.

"Trust me, it's really not that funny," he added as we continued to back up. I gasped as I ran into the wall, grabbing onto Chad's arm automatically.

"And you're really gonna love this part!" Chad and I ran away from the wall as it collapsed, only to watch the wall on the opposite side fall as well. I clutched onto Chad's arm as we backed away unconsciously until I realized what I was doing. I quickly let go as Chad and Mr. Condor unclasped their hands as well. Apparently we all panicked. Hopefully Chad was so preoccupied with Mr. Condor on his other side that he didn't notice my clinging to him.

"This club is fake!" Mr. Condor announced. I fake laughed again.

"Of course it is! You don't think I would bring your daughter to a real Hollywood club, do you?" I asked him, hoping that it sounded logical.

"You expect me to believe that you built all this for my daughter?" Mr. Condor asked. Tawni popped up on his other side.

"_Do_ you believe it?" she inquired hopefully. Mr. Condor paused and thought about it for a moment. I smiled at him nervously.

"Well. Coming from Chad, I'd say it was a little butt-kissy." Chad looked away, slightly embarrassed. "But from you, Sonny? Sure." I let out a sigh of relief. I had actually gotten away with it! "Let's go, angel." Mr. Condor and Dakota left as Tawni restrained Zora. Chad started to chuckle.

"I know, everything turned out good!" I smiled along with him.

"Oh no, I'm not laughing at that," he smirked, pulling out his phone. "I'm laughing at this. Cuz _this_ is actually a funny story. _So Random!_, fake club…" he snapped pictures on his phone as the crowd murmured. Tawni strolled up with her phone in hand as well.

"Chad Dylan Cooper. Dancing. Nine-year-old girl!" She displayed her own pictures. I quickly stepped in between her and Chad and ordered them both to delete them. Surprisingly, they both complied, putting their phones away. A new song came on, and I decided that the mood needed to change.

"So who wants to boogie?" I started dancing, and after an awkward moment, everyone else joined in. I was dancing with Chad! Well, technically not dancing _with _him, but still. And my show wasn't cancelled. Everything had turned out just fine. Who knew? Maybe Dakota's coming wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: Please, please review. Please. As an early Christmas present?


	8. I Wanna Dance With Somebody

A/N: Merry belated Christmas, everyone! Thank you to Fluffness, WildeEngel, call me what you want, Love at First Fight, channylover101, TeddyLuver, Joker236, and Zoezora for reviewing! I loved hearing all your feedback. I hope you like this chapter!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"I wanna dance with somebody - with somebody who loves me." -Whitney Houston_

I looked longingly at the prom pictures Lucy had just sent me, sighing. Not being able to enjoy the usual high school experiences was definitely a detriment of living in Hollywood.

"I can't believe I missed it!" I exclaimed aloud before I ran into someone.

"Whoa, watch it." It was Chad. Figures.

"Chad?" I looked up and saw that he had a black eye, which was in actuality rather red, purple, and puffy. "Oh my gosh, what happened?" I winced; Chad Dylan Cooper's eye was _not_ supposed to look like that. It was supposed to look sparkly, that perfect blue that makes you want to stare into it forever, that bottomless pool of emotion and mystery, that...what am I doing?

"Oh, I just got in a huge fight over at the Falls," he answered nonchalantly, pulling my attention back to the conversation. A fight? Well, there could be only one reason for that, and it set up the perfect insult.

"They don't like you either?" I grinned, and so did Chad, oddly enough.

"Funny." Really? He thought it was funny? "No, we were shooting a scene. I know it's hard to believe I can look _this_ good when I look _this_ bad, huh?" I would have agreed, but the thought of looking good reminded me of the prom back home that I had just missed, and I sighed again. Chad's cocky expression fell. "Normally that would've charmed you. What's up with you?" Well, that was an interesting way to show he cared. But at least it meant he cared, right?

"Nothing, I'm just a little bummed. I missed my prom back home, and I just got some pictures from my best friend," I explained. Chad scoffed in response.

"You're not missing much! I've been to a bunch of proms and they have _all_ ended in disaster." Disaster? That sucked. I wondered if it had anything to do with his dates to these proms. Which led to speculation about who these dates might have been. On second thought...maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't had such a good time at those proms.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," I replied, somewhat feigning it.

"Yeah, episode 10, my hair caught on fire. Last year's season finale, my date turned out to be my long-lost sister..." Well, that crossed one of those stunningly gorgeous dates off the list. The one from last season's finale. Wait, what? Season? Episode?

"What? Chad, those are fake proms." i should have known. After all, he lives in Hollywood too. He probably had to miss _his_ prom back home too, and he figured that the dramatic ones on the Falls were a good enough compensation.

"Fake proms, real proms, they all stink." Stink? Yeah, right. Then why would girls look forward to prom their entire life?

"No, they don't! They're romantic! You know, a girl dreams her whole life about going to the prom and sharing that perfect dance with a very special guy." That little fantasy from long ago about Chad being the special guy for me flashed into my head, and I smiled blissfully.

"And then he gets hit in the head by a faulty disco ball, episode 16!" Chad's voice cleared the clouds from my head, and then I got frustrated. He was ruining my idea of a perfect prom.

"You know what, Chad? You wouldn't know real romance if it punched you in the face. In fact, you wouldn't know a real punch in the face if it punched you in the face, because there's nothing real about you." I finally paused for breath, glad that I had gotten it off my chest.

"Well, here's something real for you, I really don't wanna stand here and talk to you," Chad replied, sounding annoyed. And his words stung, I have to admit. That is why I would _never_ tell him that I like him. Can you imagine his reaction?

"Good! Cuz I really don't wanna stand here and talk to you!" I retorted, even though it was far from the truth.

"Good!"

"Good!" I shot back.

"Good!" We both stalked off in different directions before I realized that I had let him have the last word. I pulled out my cell phone quickly and called him.

"Hello?" he answered. I was surprised - no "CDC here"? But I remembered the reason for my call.

"Good!" He looked back at me and I grinned widely before walking to the prop house, still exchanging "Good!"s. Haha, that was a pun! Get it - goods, "Good!"s? Oh, whatever.

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Good and goodbye!" I hung up before Chad could respond, happy to have bested him. My joy continued to grow as I planned a prom with my castmates, only to be crushed by Marshall. But after I saw how disappointed everyone was, I decided to go against the rules for once and have a secret prom. I was rushing to set it up, disco ball in hand, when I met Chad in the hallway.

"Oh, hey, Sonny," he said. Again, I was surprised - a normal greeting? But I didn't pause in my stride. Even Chad wasn't going to stop me from having my prom.

"Sorry, Chad, can't talk, I'm in a hurry," I explained as I walked past him.

"Oh, right, right, that whole secret prom." I whirled around as he spoke. HE knew about the secret prom? It must have shown on my face, because Chad then told me how he knew. "They're not that much of a secret when every kid on the lot is walking around with flyers that read 'Secret Prom!'" He unfurled one of the flyers that we had sent out, and I couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. We were having a secret prom! There's something about a secret that gives you a little burst of energy, that makes your smile brighter, that makes you glow in the knowledge that you know a secret and others don't. I think it's because you know, in that moment, that you have power. You have something others want, and you are in control of whether they get it or not. It's a marvelous feeling. And when you add that to the magic of a prom, you've hit the jackpot.

"Aren't you excited? I'm even excited about how excited I am!" I exclaimed as I retraced my steps to meet him.

"Yeah, we're not really feeling that over at the Falls. Mostly we just think it's...dumb?" He pouted at me in that stupidly adorable way as he spoke, but it didn't distract me - okay, it didn't distract me _completely_ - from what he had said. Dumb? How could a prom be dumb?

"Well, if you think it's so dumb, then maybe you and your little snobby friends at Mackenzie Falls shouldn't come," I told him defiantly. Ha. Now who's boss? After all, it was _my_ prom. _And_ I was in charge of invites. Along with everything else.

"Well, maybe we won't," Chad retorted. There goes my fantasy of dancing with that one special guy. Well, if he wasn't going to come, I was gonna make sure that he knew I didn't want him to.

"Good! Cuz your officially uninvited," I informed him proudly.

"Well, good, cuz we officially wouldn't have come anyway," was his reply. Now he was just mocking me.

"You're only saying that cause I just uninvited you," I shot back, knowing that I was right. For once.

"You only uninvited me because I just said I didn't wanna come," Chad defended, knowing that he was also right. This conversation was going nowhere. And I had a secret prom to put together, even if he wasn't coming.

"Are we done here?" I asked in frustration.

"Oh, we're _beyond_ done." _Beyond_ done? What was _that_ supposed to mean?

"Good!" I figured that was the safest response.

"Good!" Uh huh, it looked like it had been pretty good to me, especially if Chad chose to use the same one.

"Good!" I repeated. Here we go again...

"Good!" This was another conversation that was going nowhere. I decided to end it.

"So we're good?"

"Oh, we're _so_ good." _So_ good? _Beyond_ done? What the heck did he mean? After pondering his words for a few minutes, I gave up on trying to understand Chad and whatever he said, choosing instead to focus on the prom. Once everything was set up and the time came for the prom to start, however, Marshall abducted me and I was trapped in his office. When I was finally able to escape, I was greeted at the entrance to the prom with empty platters and a demand for more food. When I returned a little while later, food in tow, someone bumped the door open, and most of the food splattered on the ground. I was just starting to pick them up when someone stepped on them. Looking up, I saw the person whom I had least expected to see at the prom.

"Chad?" Then I remembered _why_ I hadn't expected to see him. "What are you doing here? You weren't invited."

"Oh, you see, I _was_ invited, but I didn't wanna go. Then I was uninvited, so I knew I _had_ to go." I was momentarily stunned and confused by his logic, but I recovered in time to stop him from going into my prom.

"No no no no no no no. You're not going into my prom before I do." I smirked at him triumphantly, and he reached for a snack in response. I quickly pulled it away from him. "And these are for invited guests only!" My smirk grew even larger. See? Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't always get what he wants.

"Are you saying I can't have one?" he asked, confirming.

"Yeah, you heard me!"

"Well, then I _have_ to have one," Chad explained with his logic that didn't make sense. I was still trying to figure it out when he stole a snack and popped it into his mouth before I could say anything. "Mmmm...this tastes good. You know where it would taste better? At your prom!" And he walked right into my prom. Before me. As did everyone else who had been invited. The night progressed, and I was sent for more food and a couple wardrobe changes along the way, but I never got to see my prom. Until it was time to destroy it. When Marshall returned and finally approved the idea of a prom, I was beyond done. I was pretty sure I knew what Chad meant by that now. The prom had been a disaster - for me, at least, and I was the one who had wanted it in the first place. So much for that perfect dance; I hadn't even gotten to have_ one_ dance.

"Hey." Chad walked out from nowhere. "See you finally made it." I glared at him halfheartedly. Then again, he had noticed that I hadn't been there before. Which meant something, right? Even if he hadn't wanted to be there in the first place. Speaking of which, why was he still there?

"Chad? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be the first to go."

"Which is exactly why I had to be the _last_ to go." Again with that stupid logic. I shook my head and sighed.

"Well, Chad, you were right. All proms end in disaster." As much as I hated to admit it, my prom had pretty much followed the pattern that Chad had told me about. Strangely enough, though, he now contradicted me.

"Do they, Sonny? Do they _really_?" Chad grinned at me as he moved closer and delivered his signature line. "Because sometimes, I heard, you get to have that perfect dance, with that one special person." My breath caught in my throat. Could it be? Did he really mean...? He pulled out a pair of headphones. "You're just going to have to settle for me," he concluded. Settle? For Chad Dylan Cooper? In what way is that _settling_? I grinned and accepted the headphone that he held out to me. Chad put one of his hands on my waist, and the other held my hand. As we started to slow dance, I wondered what could have wrought such a change. One minute, Chad was arguing with me, and the next, he had decided to give me the perfect dance with my one special person. Even if he didn't know he was the one special person.

"This is sweet," slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. No! Chad wasn't supposed to know anything! But his response was casual. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he smiled again, those dimples laughing at me.

"I have my moments." That he did. I just wish they weren't only moments. Which reminded me of all those times that _weren't_ moments, the times when he laughed at and made fun of me. I hastily searched for something to say before I let another clue of my feelings for him show.

"You gonna press play?" The music hadn't been on.

"Oh, right." Chad seemed almost...embarrassed. As though he had maybe been as caught up in the moment as I had. A fast, techno kind of song came on, one that you couldn't really slow dance to, and we began to dance like we had at "The Basement." There was no doubt about it this time, though - Chad was dancing with me. On purpose. He had given me my perfect dance. He had made my prom worth having. He had shown me - and perhaps even himself - that not all proms end in disaster. In fact, sometimes the ending can be a thousand times better than what happened before. All you need is one special person to make your evening brighter and your dreams come true.

A/N: Please review! As a…late Christmas present? XD Haha. I think I already used that excuse. But please review anyways :D


	9. Fall for You

A/N: I am in such a major rush. But thank you all for your reviews!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

"_Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again." –Secondhand Serenade_

I had come up with an idea. An idea so perfect, so ingenious, that it obviously had to go wrong. This idea was to bring Marshall and Ms. Bitterman together. Which, admittedly, succeeded. A bit too well, though. They were all over each other, and Ms. Bitterman decided to get involved with _So Random!._ In a bad way. She was going to make me eat worms! So I did what any girl in my position would do – I decided to break the two of them up. But it went against my instinct to destroy romance, as proved by my extremely unsuccessful attempt, so I went to the one person who I knew was highly capable of it. Chad.

"Chad, you are the most self-centered, coldhearted, soulless person I know!" I exclaimed before crossing my arms and starting to walk away. It sounds crazy, but this is actually one of the best ways to butter him up.

"Thank you! What do you want from me?" he replied. See? I don't really know why he likes it, but he does. Just like I don't know why I like him. But I unfortunately do.

"I need you to help me break up Bitterman and Marshall," I explained. He laughed, making me wonder if he was going to refuse. I didn't know what I would do if he did - clearly my cast knew no more than I did about breaking people up. He was my only hope. Otherwise, I'd be stuck eating worms.

"Well, I am on a roll." Oh, good. That meant he accepted. But what did he mean by "on a roll"? I had seen him break up with that girl in that commissary...did he break up with another one too? He cheated? Before I could ponder this utter lack of loyalty and what it meant to me, Chad pulled out his cell phone. "What are their numbers?" I scoffed immediately. Yeah, right. That plan was never going to work.

"You can't text them! They're grown-ups, they don't know how." Chad looked at me for a moment before speaking.

"Okay...then you and me are going to have to go to Lookout Mountain." Lookout Mountain? A date place? With Chad? No. No, that would definitely _not _be helpful in trying to keep from falling even farther than I already was after that dance at the prom.

"I'm not going to Lookout Mountain with you, that's a date place!" I protested, knowing that I would crack under the pressure and let something else slip while on this "date" if I went on it.

"Do you want them broken up?" he asked. I failed to see how this was relevant to my going to Lookout Mountain with him. Or rather, the other way around. Did that make sense?

"Yes," I answered, sure of that at least.

"Pick you up at eight." Chad winked at me before walking away. Wait, was he asking me out? In a way? I opened my mouth to protest, but no words came out. I couldn't help but feel a little excited. Not to mention nervous. My anxiety lasted through the "date." Dreading having to sit there in awkward silence, I went with the safest topic of conversation. The scenery.

"Wow, Chad. Lookout Mountain is beautiful...romantic..." I looked at Chad automatically as I mentioned romantic, and he glanced at me with a smile. No, no, no! Getting off track. Romance was NOT a safe topic. "All the stars are so bright," I looked back up at the stars and changed gears hastily, hoping it sounded related enough.

"Yes, I am," Chad smirked conceitedly. I shot him a look before he understood what I had meant. "Oh, you mean the ones up there." He gave them an appraising glance before deciding that he was still better. "Yeah, they're a'ight. I mean, they don't have their own show." His cockiness was oddly appealing, and I burst out laughing to cover it. I apparently sounded a bit fake, because he looked over at me with a funny look before grinning to himself satisfactorily. I wondered what that little smile meant, and those dimples ended up distracting me from my main purpose - to not say anything I would regret later. Well, my main purpose aside from breaking up Marshall and Bitterman. But at that moment, I forgot both.

"Normally I wouldn't laugh at that, but I guess I'm just a little nervous," I admitted. Before I could reproach myself for telling Chad I was nervous - what was he _supposed_ to think when I said something like that? - he turned to me and smiled.

"Relax. I promised an unforgettable evening, didn't I?" And in that instant, I forgot all about everything. Everything except Chad. I looked at him with a small grin on my face, his eyes practically asking for me to drown in them. If I hadn't already liked him, this would be the moment I fell for him.

"Yeah. You did," I answered, my smile growing.

"Well, I'm a man of my word." The words were barely out of Chad's mouth when a hideous monster appeared next to the car. Chad and I both screamed, and I grabbed his hands. Shockingly, he didn't pull away.

"What are you doing? This is the wrong car!" Chad yelled with apparent frustration. Frustration? Was he frustrated that we were interrupted? It took a moment for his words, rather than his tone of voice, to sink in, and then I sat straight up, letting go of his hands a bit regretfully.

"Wait, what? You know Bigfoot?" Obviously these Hollywood connections went farther than I had thought.

"Yeah, so do you," Chad informed me with a wave of his hand, clearly put out by something. Bigfoot pulled off his head to reveal...

"Hi, Sonny!" Nico. Dressed up as Bigfoot. It was soon revealed that Grady was also in the suit. I turned to Chad, angry with how events were progressing. After all, I wasn't pleased either that we had been interrupted, especially by something so stupid.

"How is this supposed to break up Bitterman and Marshall?" Because I honestly couldn't see how a Bigfoot was going to help.

"It's all in the script," was Chad's reply.

"What script?!" It seemed like every time I spoke to Chad, he somehow started relating everything back to some kind of script or episode. Sure enough, he pulled out a script for _Mackenzie Falls_.

"Episode 319 of Mackenzie Falls! Bigfoot gets the girl, it's a classic!" I didn't remember that episode. It must have been one that wasn't yet released. Good thing, too, because I'm sure the public would have hated it. The writers must have been lacking inspiration.

"Oh my gosh! _This_ is your plan? _This_ isn't real! _This_ is a show!" I exclaimed. I had asked Chad, the master heartbreaker, to help me break up a couple, and instead I got a _Mackenzie Falls_ script?

"Sonny, sometimes life imitates art! Okay? And this piece of art happens to be about a couple who takes a drive up Lookout Mountain for a romantic evening..."

"Yeah, and then Bigfoot comes out the woods and scares them!" Nico cut in as Chad spoke. Well, Nico was on board with the idea. Oddly.

"Yeah, and the guy gets so freaked out, he runs away," Chad concluded. Was it weird that he and Nico were practically finishing each other's sentences?

"And that gets the girl to break up with him..." I said like it was a great idea. Oh, now it sounded like I was completing Chad's sentence! Not that I was complaining or anything...

"Exactly!" Chad grinned, glad that I seemed to finally get it. I smiled back at him briefly before beginning a rant.

"Oh my gosh...THAT IS THE WORST PLAN I'VE EVER HEARD FROM THE WORST SHOW I'VE NEVER SEEN!" I yelled at Chad, who looked affronted. Ha. And you know, I didn't lie. I technically never saw that show. And by show, I mean episode.

"Well, here come the lovebirds, so unless you like the chewy taste of worms..." he announced as Marshall's car pulled up, reminding me why I was there in the first place.

"Nico, put your head back on!" I quickly ordered. Maybe it was a stupid plan, but if it was my only chance to get out of eating worms...

And after that, nothing went according to plan. Chad and I predicted Marshall's actions for awhile, since we both "knew people." Marshall and Bitterman had a brief argument before Bitterman started fighting Bigfoot. Not to mention my casr ditched me, along with Chad. Essentially, we did nothing. But I didn't have to eat worms, thankfully, which was my main motivation for breaking them up. Maybe Chad's plan worked after all, however stupid it sounded. Another good thing that came out of this whole ordeal? I got another "fake date" with Chad. And let me tell you, I can't even look at the stars now without thinking about that night. The night that I fell for him. Again. Even though he fled the scene afterwards.

A/N: By the way, even though we now know Sonny didn't watch _Mackenzie Falls_ before, I'm keeping it the way I had it before. I'll talk more about that later. Gotta go now…please review! Happy New Year!


	10. I'd Lie

A/N: Oh my gosh! So long since I've updated. Apologies! I feel awful :( Here's the next chapter, sorry, I'm in a rush!

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"If you ask me if I love him, I'd lie." -Taylor Swift_

I was having one of those days. One of those days where everything just seems a little off. So when I sat down to eat with the wrong people twice, I was already pretty frustrated. And finding out that it was all Chad's fault honestly didn't make me feel any better.

"Chad, what is all this? I should've known that you were behind it," I accused, pausing as I looked over his outfit. "Why are you dressed like a paperboy?" Even though I'm pretty sure paperboys don't carry around megaphones. Or have shiny leather boots that glint like their eyes.

"I'm casting a TV movie about my life: _Chad Dylan Cooper: The Chad Dylan Cooper Story_, a Chad Dylan Cooper production. I need look-a-likes to play the losers from _So Random!_." A movie about himself? How conceited. He interpreted the scornful look on my face incorrectly. "No offense," he added. "Group One losers, you're up next!" Oh, yeah. No offense, alright. Mhm. Totally.

"Wait. You're auditioning people to play us?" I asked incredulously. Did he not know we were actors and actresses? (Even if he thought otherwise.) Besides, we didn't _need_ to act. We _were_ the members of _So Random!_.

"When you got the actual losers right here!" Nico pointed out. I bet he didn't even notice that he called himself (and the rest of us) losers.

"Hey, we're not losers," I defended. A statement which Grady then made sure to contradict by providing an impression of Darth Vader using Chad's megaphone. Really? Was that _really_ necessary? Oh, God, Chad was rubbing off on me.

"Give me that, that's _my_ megaphone. Group One, let's go!" Chad called out. No. Nuh uh. I wasn't going to stand by and watch some girl play me in a movie, starring with Chad! Ahem. I mean…I should play me. It's logical! After all, I know the character inside out. And I'm pretty sure I'll have perfect delivery. Not to mention I'm an actress in any case.

"No, no, no." I snatched Chad's megaphone out of his hands. "Group One, don't move!" I turned to the rest of my cast (excluding Zora), who was standing by looking confused. "Can you believe this guy? _We_ should be playing us." I knew that if I got all of them on my side, Chad wouldn't be able to refuse. Hopefully. My cast backed me up with a chorus of agreement, and Chad gave in.

"Fine, fine, fine. You're all hired." I clapped my hands with delight, as did my friends. Had it really been that easy?

"Except for Sonny," Chad put in. My face fell instantly. Of course. I should have known. He would never be so nice as to give what I wanted without question.

"What?" I asked in disbelief. If he had wanted to be as mean as usual, he wouldn't have made it so I was the only one punished!

"You have to audition," he explained. I had to audition? But _why_? It wasn't fair! And yes, I'm aware of how childish that sounds. My castmates didn't care, unfortunately – Tawni went off to pamper her hair even more, and Nico and Grady tried once more to pick up some girls. I could have told them beforehand that it wouldn't work, but might as well leave them to try. Although seeing as how loyally they helped me…

"I shouldn't have to audition! Why do I have to audition?" I protested to Chad.

"Cuz apparently you're difficult to work with," he said as he looked up and down. Did he seriously just check me out? No, no. Probably not. Considering how he backed away after doing so.

"Look, I don't have to prove to anybody, least of all you, that I'm the best Sonny Munroe to play Sonny Munroe!" I declared. Chad was immune to my reasoning, however. As per usual.

"Do you want the part or not?" Well, what was I _supposed_ to say to that? Of course I wanted it! Which was how I ended up auditioning for the role of myself.

"Okay, state your name and the part you're here to read for." Like he didn't know.

"Sonny Munroe reading for the part of Sonny Munroe," I said dully. Honestly, Chad could be so annoying sometimes. And yet so…_not_ annoying at other times.

"There's that attitude again!" Chad noted to the guy holding up the camera, loud enough that I was meant to hear it. Exhibit A for the "so annoying" side of Chad.

"What?!" I objected, only to be cut off.

"And action!" He leaned forward in his seat to deliver his line. "Hi, you must be Sonny. I'm Chad." Wow, Chad certainly was portraying himself as much nicer than in real life. As if he could read my thoughts, he winked at me. I smiled a little before looking at the script in my hands.

"Oh my gosh! You're Chad Dylan Cooper! Possibly the greatest actor of our generation - " It suddenly hit me what I was saying. " – are you kidding me with this?!"

"Sonny, I am giving you a chance here, okay? Just read the lines. Let's, uh…let's jump ahead to where Sonny enters and punches my costar…and action!"

"I never punched your costar!" I exclaimed. I didn't want the whole world thinking that I was mean and went around punching people; not to mention my apparent awe at meeting Chad Dylan Cooper, who I supposedly thought was the greatest actor of our generation.

"Diva!" was Chad's response. Which ticked me off. If anyone in the room was a diva, it was Chad.

"Are you kidding me? I'm so not a diva!" Chad got up as I moved forward, both of us launching into fight mode.

"Really, Sonny? Really?" That was pretty much the last straw. I didn't even know why I cared so much about getting the part in the first place. If I had to go on set everyday and experience this kind of treatment from Chad, it wasn't worth it. Sure, he was...intoxicating to be around, but that didn't mean I was willingly going to be near him constantly and have him hurt me with his words.

"You know what? This is ridiculous. I'm out of here," I proclaimed, starting to turn towards the door.

"Fine," Chad argued, as if he didn't want me there in the first place. Which he probably didn't, seeing as how I had to audition when none of my friends did.

"Fine!" I shot back. Whatever. I didn't need him. Right?

"Good!" I imagined him carrying out the same argument with some other girl who would be playing me in his movie, and I wondered vaguely who it would be, and whether or not she would be as attracted to Chad as the person she would be playing.

"Good! And good luck trying to find a better me than me. Because _nobody_ knows me the way that _I _know me." And with that, I opened the door, ready to make my grand exit. Standing in my way, however, was none other than Selena Gomez, one of my favorite actresses. Needless to say, I was a little starstruck. "Oh my gosh! Selena Gomez! Can I get your autograph? Here, sign this _lousy script_!" I glared at Chad momentarily before shoving the script into Selena's hands. She pulled out a pen to sign it as she walked towards Chad.

"Hey, Chad. I got your text, and yes, I'll play the part of Sonny." It took me a couple seconds to process her words, but once I did, I was shocked. Chad had made me audition, even after he already texted Selena with a request for her to play me?

"What?" was all I could manage.

"Personally, I think the character's kind of dull, but I'll liven her up." Chad smirked at me as Selena called me dull, and I put my hand on my hip. "And you are?" asked Selena, poised to sign the script.

"The dull girl that you need to liven up," I introduced myself, glaring. Selena looked away, uncomfortable, as Chad made the scene even more awkward by saying that it was. Awkward, that is.

A little while later, I was walking around the set when I noticed Selena following me. I eventually started to get to know her a little better, and we became friends. Which is how I ended up accompanying her to her first scene for Chad's movie. Not that I was trying to see how Chad was portraying me in his movie. No, not at all.

"Alright, we're about to do the scene where you barge onto the set of _Mackenzie Falls_. Now, when this really happened, do you remember how you felt?" Selena asked me as she prepped for the scene. Actually, I did remember. I had been hurt. And upset. But that's not the answer to give someone you hardly know.

"Oooh, probably mad, because I'm always mad when I have to go see Chad," I replied. Yes. Definitely a safe and believable response. I rolled my eyes as I said his name, just for good measure.

"Right, but _really_ you're mad at yourself because of how much you _like _him." Selena gave me a wry smile, as though she knew. Which she apparently did.

"Right," I agreed before I knew what I was saying. Then it hit me. "What?! I don't like Chad!" I immediately denied, before realizing that my voice went high. According to Selena, this means I'm in denial. I quickly lowered my voice, repeating myself. "I mean, I don't like Chad." She didn't believe it, instead grinning at me happily while holding out her script.

"Sure you do! It's right here in the script."

"Wha- ?" I stuttered out before snatching the script. "Give me that!" I flipped through the pages quickly, searching for any signs that Chad had written something about me liking him. I scoffed with relief when I saw that there was nothing beyond our usual banter in the pages that I skimmed. "All it says is 'Fine!' 'Fine!' 'Good!' 'Good!' 'Fine!' 'Fine!'" It felt a little weird doing the usual argument with myself. But at least I was confident that Chad had not yet discovered that I liked him. Or at least, he hadn't put it in his movie for the world to see.

"It's not what the lines say. It's what's _between_ the lines," Selena explained, giving me that knowing look again. She was onto me.

"There is _nothing_ between those lines, trust me," I told her, hoping that my acting abilities were better than Chad said they were. As Selena pulled out her recorder again, most likely to say something about how I was really in denial, I grabbed it from her. "Hear this," I announced into it. "I am not in denial, okay?" I then realized how guilty that was. _The lady doth protest too much_ and all that, right? "Which, I know, makes it sound like I _am_ in denial, but...I'm _not_," I tried to clarify, failing miserably. "So, uh...we're good! Here you go." I handed the recorder back to Selena, feeling extraordinarily awkward as I did so. What if she didn't believe me? What if she told Chad? Right on cue, Chad himself walked in.

"Okay, people. Here we go. _Chad_ _Dylan Cooper: The Chad Dylan Cooper Story_, Sonny barges onto _Mack Falls _set, take one!" he announced into his megaphone. "Miss Gomez, on your mark, if you please. Thank you!" Chad added politely. Oh, sure, _she_ gets treated nicely. As if he could hear my thoughts, Chad turned around and looked at me before reminding me, "No extras on set." I found myself at a loss for words, deciding to simply scoff and stride away.

"Okay, people. I want to see _real_ energy and _real_ emotion...and action!" He handed his director's accessories to an assistant standing nearby, and they began to shoot the scene. I watched carefully, letting out a short exclamation when I saw that Chad had added in a fictional punch from me to Portlyn. My protest went unheeded, however, and the scene proceeded uninterrupted until Selena suddenly jumped forward and kissed Chad.

She kissed Chad. _She_ kissed Chad. Supposedly as me. But obviously not. Before I knew what I was doing, I snatched up a megaphone and screamed, "Cut! Cut! Cut it out!" I knew that I sounded unnecessarily affected, but it couldn't be helped. They had to stop, and they had to stop _now_. Which they did, thankfully, before I made an even bigger fool of myself. But that didn't stop me from going to confront Selena about her actions. I had actually thought we were kinda friends. So much for that.

"I can't believe you kissed Chad! Where in the script does it say that Sonny kisses Chad?" Selena gave me that look of hers in the mirror before turning around to face me, surprisingly calm about the entire situation.

"It's not _in_ the script. I told you, I want to play your character honestly." That was her defense? She wanted to play me honestly? Randomly, I remembered my previous thought about whether or not the girl who would play me would be as attracted to Chad as I was. Evidently she was; or at least, so it seemed based on her actions. I laughed loudly and falsely, even throwing my head in the air for good measure.

"Okay, and you honestly think that I would kiss _him_," I snickered, hoping she would buy it. Although Selena had shown an uncanny sense of knowing about my..._feelings_ for Chad ever since she came. She mimicked my laugh mockingly before replying.

"Yes, I do." Very matter-of-fact. No nonsense. Not even a hint of doubt. How could she be so certain? She hardly even knew me! I scoffed again, denying it.

"Uh, well, I would _never_ kiss him."

"In that scene," Selena added with a smile. No, no, no!

"No! Not anywhere! Not in that scene, not in a dream, not in a car, not near, not far, not here, not there, not anywhere - " I had begun to ramble (and rhyme), as I tended to when I was nervous. But I thought of another perfectly plausible reason for it, which I decided to tell Selena. "I'm rhyming, aren't I? See, I do that when I don't want to kiss somebody." The look on her face didn't seem like she was convinced.

"Really, Sonny? Really?" Ugh, it sounded all wrong coming from her.

"Now, you _sound_ like Chad!" I accused. It didn't hurt that it helped change the subject either. Selena chuckled.

"Well, that line is in the script. Page 18, 22, and twice on 39." Wow, that girl studied hard for her parts. She knew exactly what _pages_ lines were on? I only knew where they came up in the conversations. But still - that was definitely a lot of times.

"Wow, he _does_ say that a lot," I acknowledged. It actually seemed to me that he said it more often than only four times in the space of the movie, but I supposed the movie didn't really revolve around us. If it did, though, I think it would be at least ten times.

"Well, maybe it's because he has the same issues you do," was Selena's response. I gaped at her blankly for a moment before attempting to brush it off. Very unsuccessfully, might I add. In fact, I somehow managed to come up with the conclusion that Selena was a "relationship wizard" before I stormed off, infuriated.

In my state of - what should I call it? - emotional imbalance, I dressed myself in "traditional" wizard attire, which resulted in my embarrassing myself in front of Chad. Thankfully, this was nothing new (or perhaps not so thankfully?), so he wasn't surprised or even slightly affected by my costume. One thing led to another, of course, and I ended up being appointed as Selena's Sonny consultant. Weird, isn't it? I was going to teach Selena how to be me. When really, _I_ should be me. But everything always gets a little twisted when Chad gets involved. I should have known that it would be no different in his movie. Did I mention that he wrote the script? Which automatically meant that events in the movie didn't exactly match up with my own memories of the events. In fact, some of these events never even seemed to have taken place. An example? The very first scene that was shot after I had acquired my new job. I was just starting to walk over to the set, director's chair in tow, when I realized that they were already filming. Selena was speaking, and I quickly drew nearer, curious to see what Chad had written in this particular scene.

"Dreamy, dreamy Chad." Selena smiled at him, her eyes glowing. Dreamy? I was positive that I had _never_ said that about Chad. Not to his face, at least. "Of all the eyes in all of Hollywood, I had to stare into yours," Selena concluded. I had _definitely_ not said that either.

"Cut!" I called out into my megaphone, dragging my chair across the set. "That's not how it happened!" Chad turned to me, irritated.

"What are you doing here? Get off my set. We're trying to make a movie here." Selena stepped up and interrupted him, explaining that she had hired me. When he looked at the two of us incredulously, I smirked at him (what can I say? I figured out a way to hang around his set after all) before turning to Selena.

"Now, Selena, I think you're playing it wrong. Just remember, when he's staring into your eyes, he's really looking at his _reflection_ in your eyes." I glanced at Chad as I spoke, hoping that he heard every word. "Oh, and you hate him," I added, just to make it perfectly clear to him. And Selena. "Okay. Action!" This led to a brief fight about who said action better. Does it sound stupid? Yes, I agree. It does. But I always end up getting into a fight about the stupidest things with Chad. Eventually, they continued shooting the scene.

"Oh, Sonny. Try to stop yourself from falling in love with me. I beg you." I rolled my eyes, knowing that he would peek to see my reaction. Inwardly, though, I couldn't help but feel a small tremble.

"I'm just a small town girl with a big town dream, and meeting you is the biggest dream of all," Selena replied, smiling brightly. Okay, really? No, no, no.

"Okay, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!" I called out, walking onto set again. Chad protested, of course, but I ignored him.

"Okay, Selena. Remember, your biggest dream is to be on _So Random!_. Chad is just the monster that wakes you up!" I glared at him, mentally cursing him for having hair that somehow looked amazing even when tousled from his beret. "Oh, and remember that you hate him. You just really, really hate him!" I inserted, this time for my own benefit. "Action," I said quietly once I finished. Chad made a face before continuing.

"Sonny – " Before he could continue, I cut him off. I couldn't help it – I was on a roll.

"Oh, and one more thing. He's the _worst_ actor of our generation." I should have known that of all the things I had said, that would be the one to set him off.

"Bart!" Chad called for his megaphone. "Cut! Cut! Stop the lying!"

"You stop the lying!" I shot back, yelling. Even though I wasn't really sure what he had been lying about in the first place…oh, that's right. The script!

"You stop the lying!" he repeated as loudly as I had. Selena stepped in between us, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Stop! Stop saying stop, just stop it!" Chad and I both stopped, surprisingly, and looked at her. "Gosh, I was wrong. You two should never be together," she concluded. I felt my heart sink a little at this confirmation, but I didn't let it show. At least I had finally convinced her that I didn't like Chad.

"Finally. I've been trying to tell her that all day," I exclaimed.

"You've been trying to tell her that? I've been trying to tell her that too!" Okay, so it hurt a bit that he thought that we should never be together. I mean, I knew it already, but still. You can't help but feel a little forlorn. But a bit of quarrelling with Chad always seemed to bring up my spirits, so I decided to continue with our kinda-sorta argument.

"Well, I told her first." I glanced at Selena. "She thinks she's some sort of – relationship wizard," I told Chad, even though I was really the one who thought that, not her.

"Yeah!" Chad agreed, which surprised me a little. "Look at her with her little – wizardy magic beans. Okay, who does she think she is to tell us that we can't like each other? If I want to like you, I will." I wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. I knew that Chad had started out trying to defy Selena. But I didn't know what happened after that. My first response, however, was to agree with him. Shocking, right?

"Yeah, and if I want to like you, _I will_." I said the last two words into my megaphone for emphasis, looking pointedly at Selena.

"Yeah, if I want to think you have pretty hair, I _will_." Caught up in the moment, I didn't comprehend what Chad was saying. Nor did I really pay attention to what _I _was saying. Which was probably a mistake, based on my next words.

"And if I want to think that you have sparkly eyes, then _I will_." I wanted to smack myself in the face after I said that. But luckily, Chad didn't seem to take notice of it.

"Yeah, so take that, Selena!" he declared instead, and I immediately pounced on the opportunity to change the subject.

"In your face, Gomez!" Chad and I shared a fist bump as Selena rolled her eyes at us. I can't imagine why.

"Wow. Yes. You guys – you guys got me, there's _nothing_ going on here _at all_." Even I could tell that she was being sarcastic this time. As she walked away, she took my megaphone before saying into it, "You two are...perfect for each other. I'm out of here!" Chad asked her something about the movie, but I didn't really listen. Perfect for each other? Perfect? Really? That was…interesting. Definitely an idea to think about. Not that it was true. Chad and I exchanged a few words about the possibility of my becoming "BFFs with Selena Gomez" before I bashfully brought up the topic that I wanted to.

"So...you really think I have pretty hair?" I asked, somewhat embarrassed.

"I don't know…" he mumbled as he looked at the ground. Wait. He looked at the ground? Was he as uncomfortable as I was? "You really think I have sparkly eyes?" Oops. I forgot that I had let that slip.

"I don't know…" I replied, the same way that he had. "Well, one of them is," I admitted truthfully. That at least I could attest to.

"So...you want to be in my movie? I kind of need a Sonny." Chad changed the subject, and I was grateful for it. Especially since I was finally going to be able to play myself in his movie! But of course, it wouldn't do to sound too eager.

"Fine," I agreed, grinning.

"Fine." He smiled at me, a real smile, and I grinned even wider.

"Good."

"Good." Chad chuckled a little. I still wondered why he seemed as nervous as I was.

"Fine," I repeated, still grinning like an idiot.

"Fine." He began to walk away. "I'll set you up an audition. Nine o'clock?" I gave him that look, the one that says…

"Really, Chad? Really?" And it worked.

"Fine." He muttered into his megaphone. "You got the part." I smiled as he walked away, content. After all…I was in a movie! And I apparently didn't even need to condition like Tawni – Chad thought I had pretty hair. Pretty hair. Pretty hair. Were there any two words that sounded nicer together? I didn't think so.

A/N: Review? Even though I'm a horrible person for not updating in so long?


	11. 7 Things

A/N: Don't throw things at me. Okay? Thank you :D So it's been over a month since I updated this. And I've decided that this story just really isn't speaking to me anymore. I wrote the first part of this chapter about four weeks ago and it hasn't been touched since. So…I'm assuming that I've lost my drive for doing this story. I'm so sorry. But – well, I'm not feeling it anymore. Especially what with season 2 starting tomorrow, season 1 seems…well, old. If you're interested in reading my other stuff, though, feel free to do so. **Vocabulary Lessons** has become my latest multi-chapter project, but I've also got a bunch of one-shots. Thank you, and once again, I apologize.

**Stormy with Patches of Sky**

_"You make me laugh, you make me cry, I don't know which side to buy." -Miley Cyrus_

It was a boring day. One that, thus far, had consisted only of hanging out in the prop house with my cast, watching Nico and Grady in their eventually successful quest to discover identical popcorn twins. And then, of course, the day changed completely.

Chad walked in.

This normally wouldn't be enough to change the entire day (more like affect it slightly...), but then I noticed a small announcement in the corner of the cover of the magazine that Chad was holding up. The main headline, of course, was about Chad, but it didn't seem quite as interesting (shocking, I know).

"No way! Let me see that!" I snatched the magazine from Chad, quickly skimming the excerpt of the article on him before focusing on the announcement that had originally caught my attention.

"I know. Pretty cool, right?" Chad did a variation of popping his collar, a move that never failed to look both awkward and adorable. But that wasn't what I had paid attention to at the time.

"Uh, yeah! They're making a movie out of my all-time favorite superhero, Fashionita!" As I pronounced her name, I stuck out my fist and broadened my stance as I had seen her do in cartoons. Grady and I then fondly reminisced about Fashionita and her glamorous crime-fighting, leading to a somewhat awkward moment where we both professed our desire to play her. I won out, though, most likely because I was, in fact, a girl. "Look, I _have_ to get an audition," I told Chad, knowing that he was the one in the room with the most influence over being able to get auditions. Tawni walked over and immediately decided that she would be competing with me for the role, even though she didn't have the slightest clue who Fashionita was. I shrugged it off, figuring that I had much more background prep on the character than she ever would have. There would be worse competition than her.

"Okay, do you really think I came all the way over here to _not_ talk about me?" Chad asked, clearly getting impatient. I looked at the magazine in my hands again, this time reading it aloud.

"_Mackenzie Falls_' Chad Dylan Cooper will be doing double duty - " Here I had to pause due to a somewhat immature reaction from Grady. This was repeated once more before I finally continued, skipping over that part. "Apparently, Chad's hosting a new hidden camera show called _Celebrity Practical Jok'd_."

"Yeah. I play crazy pranks on celebrities, then I pop out and say 'You've been celebrity practical jok'd, sucka! Aah!'" Pranks? That actually sounded kinda fun. As long as I wasn't the one being pranked. Oh my gosh! What if Chad tried to prank me?

"That means you're on _two_ TV shows we won't watch," Nico replied, thinking quickly. Of course we all had to laugh at that as Grady added another "double duty" comment.

"Sure!" Chad looked down at Nico and Grady with a light in his eyes. "Laugh it up now! You won't be laughing when I prank you on my show. Who knows? Maybe one of you will be arrested by a fake cop…covered in fish guts…so beware!" He leaned in menacingly as Nico and Grady retreated, scared. Although I really don't know why they were. Chad was clearly just trying to psych us all out. But they were certainly mad when he ate one of their identical popcorn twins shortly afterwards.

Later in the commissary, we were all dining on hot dogs (there was surprisingly good food for once) when I got a call from the director of _Fashionita_. I had gotten an audition! When I shared the news with my castmates, however, no one seemed to really care, other than Tawni (who didn't exactly care the way I wanted her to). Instead, they were all paranoid about Chad and his prank show.

"Guys, relax. We're all friends here, and I refuse to believe that any one of us would be working with _Chad_ on a prank," I assured them once they had torn up some poor guy's burrito after pelting him with my uneaten hot dog. Of course, just as they were relaxing, Chad walked up.

"Unless one of you is!" My gullible friends gasped in shock.

"But probably not," he corrected himself, beginning to walk away as everyone at the table sighed with relief. I rolled my eyes.

"Unless I'm lying!" Chad had to start it again. And they had to gasp. Really, guys? Really?

"But probably not." I shook my head as everyone else relaxed.

"Unless I am!" I lifted my eyebrows, waiting for him to just leave. And he got the hint, too.

"See you later," he waved slightly, and it seemed that it was directed at me. I smiled involuntarily as he turned around and walked away. "Especially one of you!" he added, turning back and winking before finally leaving.

"He winked at Sonny!" Grady immediately pointed fingers (literally) at me. My jaw dropped as I realized that he did. I knew it wasn't because we were in cahoots, though. So what else could it have been for?

A/N: Dramatic ending, I suppose. But you all know what happens next. :P Love you all! Hope you understand :D


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